Hello, friend. Waiting has a way of making us think nothing is happening. We wait for prayers to be answered, circumstances to change, or doors to open, and it can be tempting to mistake God’s silence for his absence.

But Romans 8 invites us to see waiting differently. While we often focus on what we cannot yet see, God is already accomplishing his purposes. The question is not whether he is working, but whether we will trust him while we wait.

In today’s edition:

🇨🇺 Why hope remains in Cuba, even when the lights keep going out.

📖 Five reminders from Romans 8 for seasons of waiting.

🇯🇵 Why years of faithful ministry in Japan remind us that God’s work is not measured by immediate results. 

The Lights Go Out, But Hope Remains 🇨🇺

For many families in Cuba, uncertainty has become part of everyday life. 

In just 10 days, the country has experienced three nationwide power-grid collapses, leaving millions without electricity and disrupting hospitals, transportation, communications, and access to clean water. Some families now keep their refrigerators nearly empty because they expect food to spoil. Others sleep on rooftops to escape the heat when fans and air conditioners fall silent.

And in the midst of that, life goes on. Neighbors gather around a single generator-powered television to watch a World Cup match together. Churches continue meeting. Believers continue serving their communities. Even when darkness lingers, the light of the gospel has not gone out.

Waiting does not mean God is absent. While many in Cuba wait for electricity, medicine, stability, and relief, God is still sustaining his people and building his church.

How to Pray:

🙏🏼 Pray for Cuban families facing repeated power outages, economic hardship, and daily uncertainty.

🙏🏼 Pray for churches to continue serving their communities with hope, generosity, and endurance.

🙏🏼 Pray that many in Cuba would encounter the unchanging hope of Christ, even as they wait for circumstances to improve.

Childlike Faith in Seasons of Waiting ⏳

There’s a kind of childlike faith that trusts what his father is doing even when he doesn’t understand. At the same time, there’s a kind of childish faith that doubts what his father is doing because he presumes to know what’s best.

I am sad to admit that sometimes my faith is more childish than childlike, particularly in seasons of waiting. 

When I’m asking questions that start with Why? or How long?, often I’m doing so as if I have a solution I’m waiting for God to implement instead of asking these questions knowing I have a Savior who is working in ways I cannot see.

How do we cultivate a childlike faith in seasons of waiting? Here are five brief but significant reminders specifically flowing from God’s Word in Romans 8.

1. Remember that God is sovereign over everyone and everything.

In Romans 8:20, Paul writes how God subjected creation to futility “in hope.” 

In other words, we can be confident that even on hard days, God is working toward good ends. In fact, Romans 8:28 says God is working like this in “all things.” 

Do you know what the Greek word for “all things” means in that verse? It means “all things.” God is sovereign over everyone and everything, which means we can be confident that God ultimately has a good purpose in everything for everyone who trusts in Him.

2. Remember that God loves you more than you know.

“Predestined” is a word that causes a lot of confusion and even controversy among Christians. But what a beautiful word this is and what stunning truth it communicates: that God purposes to adopt us as his children before he even spoke the world into being. 

If he has loved you from eternity past, surely you can trust that he loves you in the present. When we’re waiting, let’s never lose sight of the wonder that God is for us.

3. Remember that God loves others more than you do.

Especially when we’re waiting (and longing!) to see God’s grace in someone else’s life whom we love, it’s good to remember that God doesn’t just love us. He loves them. 

If we’re not careful, we can start to convince ourselves that we love others more than God does, as if we know better than God what is best for them. But we don’t. 

Our love for others pales in comparison to the love of the One who formed them fearfully and wonderfully in his image. Whenever we think our love is greater than God’s, it’s good to pause and meditate on Romans 8:38-39.

4. Remember that God is the goal.

Often, we may start thinking that the goal is resolution of a certain circumstance or fulfillment of a certain dream. But circumstances and dreams in this world are not sufficient to satisfy our souls. 

Romans 8 reminds us, through powerful imagery of our adoption as sons and daughters of God, that the ultimate goal for which we live is full, final, complete, consummate redemption from sin, and reconciliation with God. And on that day when our faith turns to sight, we will not regret waiting on him.

5. Remember that God is at work.

Romans 8 is filled with ways that God is working by his Spirit in our lives, helping us in every way we need and interceding for us in every moment we face. And as we’ve already seen, he’s doing that as he’s working everything together for our good. 

As we wait and wonder why and for how long, let’s pray with faith in who God is, what God is doing, what God can do, and what God will do.

I sincerely can’t imagine waiting without these truths from Romans 8 (and all over Scripture). Let’s hold on to them with childlike faith as we wait. And let’s give our lives to making these truths known in a world where billions of people are waiting to hear them. 

—David Platt

When Faithfulness Looks Small 🇯🇵

In Japan, waiting rarely makes headlines. Many churches remain small, and some pastors spend years—even decades—faithfully preaching the gospel without seeing the kind of visible growth many Christians hope for. 

At the same time, Japan continues to wrestle with an aging population, increasing loneliness, and deep spiritual need. In a country where fewer than 1% of people profess faith in Christ, gospel work often unfolds quietly, one conversation and one relationship at a time.

But God’s work has never been measured by visible results alone.

While believers faithfully sow the gospel, God is at work in ways no one can fully see. The same God who brings the harvest is sustaining pastors, strengthening churches, and drawing people to himself in his perfect timing. 

Waiting is not evidence that God has stopped working. Sometimes his work is taking root long before we can see it.

How to Pray:
🙏🏼 Pray for pastors and churches in Japan to remain encouraged as they faithfully proclaim Christ year after year.

🙏🏼 Pray for those struggling with loneliness, isolation, and spiritual emptiness—that many would encounter the hope of the gospel.

🙏🏼 Pray that God would continue drawing people to himself and strengthening his church throughout Japan.

📍 Attention Worthy

• Help the next generation make Jesus known everywhere. The Pray the World Family Pack gives families practical ways to learn about the nations and pray for them together.

• God’s love is deeper than we often realize. A richer understanding of his love changes the way we trust him, especially when life feels uncertain.

• If the Bible is always in our pocket, why memorize it? Hiding God’s Word in our hearts offers something our smartphones never can.