You open the notes you made at the beginning. You recognize the tired handwriting. Has anything changed beneath the days that still look ordinary? Jeremiah gives us two plants and asks where their roots are finding water.
Read Jeremiah 17:5–10. One plant is in parched ground; the other sends roots toward the stream. The contrast concerns where trust is placed. The tree still experiences heat and drought. It has water to draw from.
Keep the drought in the picture
It is tempting to make growth mean a life that looks greener to everyone else. The passage gives us a more searching image. Heat comes. What sustains the tree then? Its strength is related to the source its roots can reach.
Money, approval, and competence can all be useful. They are poor candidates for carrying every hope. Notice which one you reach for when the future feels uncertain, and what you ask it to guarantee.
The passage also speaks of God searching the heart. Let that keep the reflection honest. You may have a beautiful image of being rooted while still giving the first and last word to the thing you fear losing.
Look for one actual change
Return to your early notes. Can you name a quicker apology, a truthful no, a request for help, or a moment when you returned to Scripture before answering? Those changes deserve attention without becoming another scorecard.
If you cannot see much yet, tell God that. Ask someone who knows you well what they notice. Keep tending the practices that direct your trust toward Him, and receive the ordinary care that helps a person through a dry season.
A question to sit with
What has changed in my trust, and where do I still need patient growth?
You can take this slowly.