The Holy Place Between

Acts 1:4–8

“And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father...”

There are some endings that we choose, and there are others that seem to choose us.

Leaving teaching was one of those difficult endings for me. I had entered education because I believed God had clearly called me there. After years in the corporate world, leaving was not simply a career change. I believed God was calling me into a different kind of mission field, one where I could invest in students, teach them, encourage them, and hopefully make a difference that went far beyond the classroom.

And I loved it. That is part of what made leaving so difficult.

Over time, the nerve damage from a chronic illness began to affect my ability to function in the classroom. The noise, constant movement, and sensory demands exacerbated chronic migraine and a persistent sensation that I was falling. I learned to brace myself against walls, grip railings, and find ways to keep myself steady just to get through the day, with every evening spent recovering in quiet and stillness. Eventually, even those strategies were no longer enough, and I had to face something I desperately did not want to accept: I could not continue in the environment where I believed God had called me to serve.

I wrestled deeply with that reality. If God had so clearly called me out of corporate work and into teaching, why would He allow my health to make that very mission impossible? I kept thinking, “I just need to try harder.” Surely there was another way to manage it, another way to push through. But there wasn't. It became increasingly clear that my season as a teacher was coming to an end.

There was grief in leaving. I mourned the students I would no longer see every day, the relationships I had built, the work I had poured myself into, and even the version of myself I had become. But there was also confusion. I had believed this was where God wanted me, and suddenly I was standing outside of it with no clear idea of what was next. I was at an ending with no clear sense of what was ahead.

I think that is one of the hardest places to be: in the in-between, the space after one thing has ended and before you know what comes next. For me, there was grief, uncertainty, fear, frustration, and at times, desperation.

The disciples knew something about that space.

Acts 1 takes place after Jesus had risen from the dead. The disciples had spent years following Him, watching Him teach, heal, suffer, die, and rise again. Then Acts tells us that He presented Himself alive to them over a forty-day period, speaking about the kingdom of God. He was preparing them for His ascension and the change that would come with His physical departure.

They were standing at the end of one season without yet understanding the beginning of the next.

In verse 4, Jesus gave them a very specific instruction:

“Do not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father.”

Then, when they asked Him about what would happen next, Jesus told them:

“It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.”

The disciples wanted to know what was next. They wanted to understand the timing. Instead, Jesus told them there were things they were not going to know yet. But He did not leave them with nothing. He gave them a promise. They would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they would be His witnesses. I find it so comforting that God has given us His Spirit as well.

They knew there was something ahead of them. They just didn't know exactly what it would look like or when it would happen. After Jesus ascended, they did as He had told them, and they waited.

Acts 1:14 tells us what they did in that waiting:

“All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer.”

They didn't know what was next, but they knew where to turn while they waited.

I think we often have a difficult time with the in-between because we want to feel useful and productive. When something ends, we want to know what God is doing next. We want a new assignment, a new direction. It is not wrong to desire to be about the work God has appointed for us. But what if the in-between is not a problem to solve? What if it is a place God intends for us to be?

The disciples weren't told to figure everything out. They were told to wait for what the Father had promised. And while they waited, they prayed.

There is something holy about that kind of waiting.

The in-between is not passive. Like the disciples, we can approach it prayerfully and expectantly. It is a time to remember what God has done, to praise Him for what was, to pray for what is ahead, and to trust Him when we cannot yet see it.

We can grieve what has ended. We can give thanks for what came before. We can praise God for the ways He met us in that season and for the people He allowed us to love and serve. We can remember what He taught us and trust in His faithfulness.

We do not have to know what comes next while we are in the in-between. The disciples could not see Pentecost while they were waiting for it. They could not see the ministry that would unfold through them. They could not know how the Holy Spirit would empower them or how far the gospel would reach. They simply had to trust the promise they had been given.

Neither can we always see what God is preparing while we are standing in the space between what was and what will be.

But we can look back and see His faithfulness. We can recognize His presence in what He has already carried us through. And we can trust that the God who was faithful in the season that ended will be faithful in the season that has not yet begun.

We don't have to know what comes next to know that God is already there. And in the holy place between what was and what will be, that is enough.