Trusting the Process, One Step at a Time | EP12

When I first returned to Los Angeles, I was overwhelmed by uncertainty. The cost of living was high, my livestream business was starting from zero, and many days felt discouraging.

In this episode, I share the story of that season — rebuilding a business, working long nights, facing slow growth, and learning to live with uncertainty.

A simple sentence from a friend changed how I saw that time:
 “Maybe instead of saying I’m waiting, say I’m learning.”

This episode is about patience, faith, and the quiet seasons of life when progress feels slow but something deeper is still happening. Sometimes waiting is not wasted time. Sometimes waiting is where growth begins.

If you are in a season of uncertainty, I hope this conversation reminds you that you are not alone.

Email: elenaswy@gmail.com

IG: @elenaswenyu

Transcript

How I Met Jesus — Episode 12

Trusting the Process, One Step at a Time 

Hi, this is Elena.

Welcome back to How I Met Jesus.

When I first returned to Los Angeles, I was extremely anxious.

Life in LA was very different from Kansas. Almost every expense was double what I used to pay before, and at that time I didn’t yet have a stable source of income.

I wanted to rebuild the livestream online shopping business I had created in Kansas City. So I invested almost all of my savings into buying inventory, hoping I could quickly turn it into cash through online sales.

To save money, I temporarily stayed in a friend’s warehouse office. Technically it wasn’t allowed, and if it had been discovered, I could have faced a large fine. But at that moment, I didn’t have many other options.

However, the business didn’t start as smoothly as I had imagined.

My livestream accounts were brand new, which meant I had no followers. I would go live for long periods of time with almost no viewers, and of course that meant no sales either. Building an audience takes time.

At the same time, I had to recruit and train new hosts, which turned out to be one of the most exhausting parts.

People would schedule interviews and simply not show up. Some who did come felt hesitant once they realized it was a brand-new business. Others who started working would leave after a day or two because they realized the job wasn’t what they expected.

In the beginning, I had to do almost everything by myself — recruiting, packing orders, training hosts, and monitoring livestreams. Some nights I worked until midnight.

And during that time, I realized something about myself. For a long time, I had lived with a quiet kind of anxiety — the kind that makes you impatient. I always wanted things to happen quickly. If I started something today, I hoped to see results tomorrow. But life doesn’t always move at that pace.

One day, I shared this frustration with a friend I met at church in LA. I remember telling him how confusing it felt. Sometimes I felt like I already knew what needed to be done to make something work. I had done everything I could, but things still didn’t move in the direction I expected. And in those moments, it felt like all I could do was wait.

He’s a very successful businessman, and he listened quietly. Then he said something that stayed with me. He told me: “Maybe instead of saying I’m waiting, say I’m learning.”

That simple sentence stayed with me for a long time. It changed the way I began to see time. I started to realize that some things simply take time — not because I’m doing something wrong, but because timing involves more than just me. It’s about when everything and everyone connected to that moment are ready. Only then can things unfold naturally.

And that realization slowly began to change the way I experienced my days in Los Angeles.

The business was still uncertain.

The livestreams were still growing slowly.

And many things were still outside of my control.

But something inside me became a little calmer.

Instead of constantly asking, “Why isn’t this working yet?”

I began asking a different question: “What is this season teaching me?”

I started seeing those quiet days differently.

They weren’t empty.

They were shaping me.

Teaching me patience.

Teaching me humility.

Teaching me to trust that not everything has to happen on my timeline.

And maybe that’s what this season has really been about.

Learning to trust the process. To take one step at a time.

To keep doing the work I can do today,  

and trust that the results will come in their time. 

Because faith doesn’t always mean knowing the whole plan.

Sometimes faith simply means continuing to walk, 

even when you can only see the next step.

That’s one of the very important lessons I learned in that season:

Waiting is not empty.

Waiting is where learning happens.

It’s where patience grows.

It’s where our character is shaped.

And sometimes, it’s where God quietly prepares us 

for the things we once thought we were ready for.

Let’s pray:

Father Lord,

Thank You for teaching me patience in seasons of uncertainty.

When I feel anxious about the future, help me remember that Your timing is different from mine.

Teach me to trust the process even when I cannot see the whole picture.

Help me walk faithfully, one step at a time.

And remind me that even in the waiting, You are still working.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.

Thank you for being here and listening. If you feel this episode might help someone in your life, you’re welcome to share this podcast with them. And if you have your own story, testimony, struggles, or questions, I would truly love to hear from you. You can find my email and contact information in the description of each episode. My hope is that by sharing our stories, we can remind each other that we’re not alone on this journey.