Just the Three Feet in Front of You

About twenty years ago, I was in a small group with a friend who told a story I’ve never forgotten and thought about often about it over the years.

He said he saw a vision of himself standing before a long, heavy workbench, about seven hundred feet long, covered with tools, materials, parts, and half-finished projects. It stretched wide across the room. Everything was visible. Nothing was hidden.

And in that moment, the Lord spoke to him:

“Just focus on the three feet in front of you. I’ll take care of the rest.”

My friend was a business owner here in town, not running a massive corporation, but a real, tangible, local business with a dozen or more employees. His company carried God’s name right in it. He took his responsibility seriously, both for his people and for what the business represented in our community.

Like many of us, he often felt the weight of wanting to do it all right, to manage every outcome, to make sure everything worked. The vision wasn’t God telling him to relax or to do less. It was God inviting him to trust.

“Be faithful with what’s in your hands,” the Lord seemed to say. “I’ll handle the rest of the bench.”

That’s not a call to laziness or passivity. It’s a call to surrender, to the peace that comes when we let God be responsible for what only He can control.

The truth is, much of what overwhelms us isn’t the work itself; it’s the illusion that we’re in charge of it all. The unknown, the uncertain, the mysterious parts of life, they belong to God. Our three feet are enough.

And trusting God doesn’t mean stepping back from life. It means stepping into it—with peace, strength, and courage. The same words God spoke to Joshua echo for us:

“Be strong and very courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)

Trusting God is not retreating from responsibility. It’s walking forward in it—confident that He’s already working beyond what we can see or control.

Stay with your three feet. Be faithful there. God’s already at work on the rest.

If this resonates with you...

I’d love to walk with you as you learn to trust God with the rest of the workbench through coaching or spiritual direction.

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And if you know a pastor, are being led by one, or are friends with one who could use this kind of space to breathe, please introduce us. Sometimes the greatest gift you can give a pastor is simply pointing them to a safe place to breathe.