When God's Provision Doesn't Look Like You Expected

What do you do when you’re following Jesus, working hard, and still can’t pay the bills?

You’ve prayed. You’ve sought counsel. You’re doing everything you know to do. Yet the breakthrough you expected hasn’t arrived.

Recently, I sat down with Keith and Alexis Fedor, friends Janine and I have known for more than a decade. We first connected when Keith was delivering pizzas in Redding, California. Today, he has a thriving financial advisory business (Summitwealthstrategies.com).

But the distance between those two realities was measured in years.

Their story raises a question worth asking: What if your current circumstances don’t tell the whole story of what God is doing?

Listen to the podcast here: Heaveninbusiness.com/podcast

When hard work wasn’t enough

Keith and Alexis married young and became parents soon afterward. Keith was cleaning swimming pools for about $10 a pool, trying to figure out how to earn the $2,000 a month they needed.

After dozens of job applications, a recruiter connected him with an opportunity to become a financial advisor. He had little experience, but someone saw potential.

Then they moved to Redding, hungry to grow in their relationship with God. Keith left behind the network that had helped him get started. Building his practice in a new city proved difficult.

A friend who owned a pizza shop offered him evening work so he could keep building the business during the day.

Those tips bought fuel and groceries. Alexis compared packages of chicken to save pennies. They bought small packs of diapers because they couldn’t afford the larger box.

Then the electricity was disconnected in the summer. A car was repossessed on Alexis’s birthday. Friends brought food. Their landlords extended grace when rent was overdue.

I watched this season. Keith was working hard and receiving industry mentoring. This wasn’t a lack of effort.

Let God challenge your expectations

Keith realized he had drawn boundaries around what God’s provision should look like. Surely God wouldn’t allow the power to be disconnected. Surely certain things wouldn’t happen if they were following Him.

Then those things happened.

They had to wrestle honestly with disappointment while continuing to turn toward God.

Alexis kept asking what He was doing in their lives. She returned to the truths of Scripture: seek first His kingdom, be faithful with little, and discover His strength in weakness.

We need discernment in difficult seasons. Sometimes we need to correct a decision, develop a skill, or receive help. Hardship alone doesn’t prove we have missed God.

The question becomes: Lord, what are You saying, and what is my next faithful step?

Keep growing, and let people walk with you

Keith’s practical advice was clear: keep developing your skills. Prayer belongs alongside becoming better at your work.

His income grew gradually. The first four or five years were slow. Later years brought greater momentum.

Along the way, community mattered enormously. Friends brought food, prayed, and encouraged them. They saw potential beyond the pressure of the moment.

Years later, some of those same friends gathered to pray over Keith and Alexis’s new home.

Who knows your story well enough to offer encouragement, wisdom, and correction? Who can help you discern whether to persevere or adjust?

Ask God for those relationships. Then make room for them.

Success brings another invitation

Today, Keith is asking a bigger question: What is God doing that he and his business can participate in?

Growth now means greater capacity to support their local church, missionaries, and needs beyond his household.

Alexis described the foundation that remains through both scarcity and abundance: her best days are the days spent hearing God’s voice and knowing His affection.

That’s something we can practice today, whatever our bank balance.

Your next step may be to improve a skill, ask for help, or surrender an expectation. You don’t need the whole journey mapped out to take it.

And you need people alongside you

Join Janine and I at the Heaven in Business Nashville Conference, March 3–5, 2027, to connect with fellow business leaders, hear real stories, and practice partnering with God in your work.

Reserve your seat for Nashville. Come ready to listen, build relationships, and take your next faithful step.