This 5-day devotional draws directly from One Community Church's sermon “What to Do When You Are Stuck | A Message from Pastor Bryan Loritts - 2026-07-12” so you can keep engaging with the message all week. Read, reflect, and share it with your small group or friends.
Stuck but Not Stopped
Monday — Understanding the Truth
Have you ever felt like no matter what you tried, you just couldn't get out of a situation? Like life had you pinned and there was no exit in sight?
Today's Scripture "I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel." — Philippians 1:12
Reflection The apostle Paul wrote those words from prison. Not from a comfortable retreat, not from a season of ease — from chains. And yet, somehow, he wasn't defeated. He was still moving.
That word advance in the original Greek is actually a military term. It means to move forward in the face of opposition. Paul was saying: I have opposition, I am stuck, and I am still moving forward.
That's the truth at the heart of this week. Being stuck doesn't mean you stop.
We live in a world that promises quick fixes and clean exits. But real life — and real faith — often looks more like Paul's prison cell than a highlight reel. The question isn't whether you'll ever feel stuck. You will. The question is what you do while you're there.
Paul's answer wasn't to pretend everything was fine. He acknowledged the prison. He named it. But he refused to let it be the last word. His circumstances had limits. His faith didn't.
This week, we're going to walk through what that looks like — not as a formula for getting out, but as a way of making something meaningful right where you are.
Today's Step Think honestly about one area of your life where you feel stuck right now. Just name it — to yourself, or to God.
A Closing Thought You're in good company. And this is not the end of your story.
The Weight of Not Knowing When
Tuesday — When It's Hard
There's a particular kind of exhaustion that comes not from hard work, but from waiting. From not knowing if things will ever change.
Today's Scripture "Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need." — Philippians 4:11–12
Reflection Notice something easy to miss in that passage: Paul says he learned contentment. He didn't wake up one day with it. It wasn't a spiritual gift handed to him. It was something forged — slowly, painfully — through actual hard seasons.
That should be a relief to you if you're struggling right now.
Maybe your stuck season involves a health diagnosis, a marriage that's fraying, a job that won't come through, or a grief that won't lift. Maybe it's quieter than that — just a creeping sense that life isn't going the way you hoped, and you're not sure how much longer you can hold on.
It's okay to say that this is hard. It's okay to admit that contentment doesn't come naturally when you're hurting. Paul didn't pretend either. He named his circumstances — prison — and then chose his response.
The struggle isn't a sign that your faith is broken. Sometimes the struggle is the place where faith is being built. The difficulty of believing God is good when things feel bad is exactly where trust grows its deepest roots.
You don't have to have it all figured out today.
Today's Step Tell God honestly how you feel about your stuck season — no polished words needed. Then ask Him for just enough strength for today.
A Closing Thought Faith doesn't require you to feel fine. It just asks you to keep holding on.
Three Things You Can Do Today
Wednesday — Putting It Into Practice
Knowing a truth and actually living it are two very different things. So what does "stuck but not stopped" look like on an ordinary Tuesday afternoon?
Today's Scripture "Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ." — Colossians 4:2–3
Reflection Paul gives us something concrete to work with. Even from prison, he kept doing three things: witnessing, praying, and rejoicing. Not perfectly, not without pain — but consistently.
Keep witnessing. Your stuck season puts you in rooms you'd never enter otherwise — waiting rooms, hospital corridors, hard conversations. The people around you in those places aren't accidents. You don't have to preach a sermon. Just be present, be honest about your faith, and let people see how you're holding up.
Keep praying. Here's a question worth sitting with: If God said yes to everything you've prayed for in the last year, would the world change — or just your world? Start praying bigger. Pray for healing and for boldness while you wait. Pray for your situation and for the people around you in it.
Keep rejoicing. This isn't pretending things are fine. Joy isn't happiness — it doesn't depend on your circumstances. It's a choice to express gratitude to God even when life is hard. Start small: name one thing today that you're genuinely thankful for.
None of these steps require your situation to change first. That's exactly the point.
Today's Step Pick one of the three — witness, pray, or rejoice — and do it intentionally today, right in the middle of wherever you're stuck.
A Closing Thought You don't have to wait for rescue to start living. The faith you exercise now is real faith.
Praise Rising from the Deep
Thursday — What This Looks Like in Real Life
What does it actually look like when someone refuses to stop — even when everything in their circumstances says they should?
Today's Scripture "Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice." — Philippians 4:4
Reflection In 2010, 33 miners in Chile were trapped 2,000 feet underground when the mine collapsed around them. Experts gave them a 2% chance of survival. The rock sealing them in was twice the size of the Empire State Building.
Among those miners was a man named José — a miner by trade, a pastor by calling. On the very first day, he gathered the other 32 men and said, in effect: I don't know how we're getting out of here, but I know who we should turn to.
Without a Bible, drawing only on scripture he'd memorized, he preached. He led prayer. He called them to confess, to worship, to hope. Every single day for 69 days, they gathered for an hour — stuck underground, unable to see daylight — and they praised.
And while they praised, engineers above ground were drilling.
The drill broke through in the middle of one of their worship gatherings.
That's what Philippians 4:4 looks like with skin on it. Rejoice always — not only when things are good, not only when the rescue has arrived. Always. The rejoicing isn't denial. It's defiance. It's saying to your circumstances: you do not have the final word.
Your situation may not change today. But your posture can.
Today's Step Set a timer for five minutes and spend it in gratitude — speaking, writing, or praying thanks to God for what is true and good, even now.
A Closing Thought Sometimes praise is what keeps the drill moving. Don't stop.
This Is Not Where Your Story Ends
Friday — Carrying It Forward
You've sat with this truth all week. Now comes the harder part: carrying it into the weekend, into next week, into the long stretch of ordinary days.
Today's Scripture "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." — Philippians 4:13
Reflection We've probably all seen this verse on a coffee mug or a gym wall. But remember where Paul wrote it: prison. No exit in sight. No guarantee of release.
He wasn't saying I can accomplish anything I set my mind to. He was saying something far more grounded and far more powerful: In every situation — the highs and the lows, the abundance and the need — Christ gives me what I need to keep going.
That's the promise you carry into the weekend.
You may still be stuck in the same situation you were in on Monday. The diagnosis may not have changed. The job may not have come through. The relationship may still be hard. Being stuck doesn't disappear just because you've read a week of devotionals.
But here's what can change: your posture. Your direction. The small, daily choice to keep witnessing, keep praying, keep rejoicing — not because it's easy, but because the God who raised Jesus from the dead is the same God who is present with you right now, in the middle of your stuck season.
The oyster can't get rid of the grain of sand. So it makes a pearl. That's not resignation. That's faith at work.
Today's Step Write down one sentence about what "stuck but not stopped" means for your life right now. Keep it somewhere you'll see it next week.
A Closing Thought You are not forgotten, and this is not the end. Keep going — He is with you.