The Joy of Slow Growth
What if the thing that looks like nothing is actually everything?
Ten months ago, I started the Joy God’s Way® Substack journey. Imagine not being active on social media, therefore starting from scratch. No followers, no subscribers and no friends or family because I was used to doing things on my own.
Having no background or experience about this Substack platform, I jumped in with both feet. It was recommended that I follow two specific newsletters on the platform, but at the time it only overwhelmed me.
I wrote my first article, closed my eyes and posted it. I immediately got five subscribers who consisted of one friend, one cousin, and three individuals that I was growing with in a Double Win community. For months and months I wrote various articles about joy in different seasons of life. (Feel free to check out the archives to see more).
Month after month after month after month and so it went. You write and you wait. You write and you gain maybe one or two subscribers a month. By the eigth month (end of March 2026) I was 26 subscribers strong.
As time went on, my focus and anticipation for growing my newsletter business reminded me of the Chinese Bamboo tree.
✨Note: This will not be a story of whether or not the ‘bamboo tree’ is a tree, plant or type of grass. For the sake of my story, it’s a tree. 😊
For more on my Substack journey in the following links.👇🏼
The Chinese Bamboo Tree
Have you ever heard of the Chinese Bamboo Tree?
You plant the seed.
You water it.
You fertilize the soil.
You show up, day after day, doing the faithful work of tending something you believe in.
And at the end of year one? Nothing. Not a single sprout. Not one green leaf poking through the dirt.
Year two? Nothing.
Year three? Still nothing.
Year four? You guessed it. Nothing visible. Just dirt. Just you with a watering can and a whole lot of faith in something nobody else can see.
Your neighbors think you’re crazy.
Your friends have moved on to faster-growing things.
And that voice in your head? She’s having a field day.
But then, in the fifth year, something happens. That little seed, the one that looked like a failure for four straight years, breaks through the soil and grows up to 90 feet tall in six weeks.
Ninety. Feet. In six. Weeks.
Scientists have measured it growing 48 inches in a single day. You can literally stand there and watch it happen.
But here’s the question that changes everything: Did the bamboo tree grow 90 feet in six weeks? Or did it grow 90 feet in five years?
Because for four years, while nothing was visible above ground, that tree was building a root system so massive, so deep, so intentionally engineered that when the time came to rise, nothing could stop it.
It wasn’t doing nothing. It was doing everything. You just couldn’t see it yet.
Sweet friend, I think some of us are in our bamboo years. And I think God has something to say about that.
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” — Galatians 6:9
Paul wrote those words to a church that was tired. They were doing the right things, planting the right seeds, showing up faithfully. But they weren’t seeing the harvest yet. And they were starting to wonder if the harvest was even coming.
Sound familiar?
“At the proper time.”
Not at YOUR proper time.
Not when your timeline says it should happen.
Not when your Instagram feed makes you feel like you’re behind.
At the proper time.
God’s time! The time when the roots are ready to hold what’s coming.
When Your Feelings Tell You Otherwise...
The resistance to slow growth sounds like:
“If this were really from God, it would be happening faster.”
“Everyone else is growing. Why am I stuck?”
“Maybe I’m not doing enough. Maybe I need a different strategy.”
“This doesn’t look or feel like a blessing. This looks and feels like failure.”
“I’ve been watering this thing for years and I have nothing to show for it.”
I hear those whispers. I’ve had every single one of them. I’ve spoken those words. Sometimes in the same afternoon. Sometimes even in the same breath.
There are seasons where I’ve looked at the ground I’ve been tending and wanted to scream, “Where is the growth?!” I’ve compared my dirt patch to someone else’s full bloom. I’ve questioned whether God forgot where He planted me.
But here’s what the bamboo taught me: the absence of visible growth is not the absence of growth.
Let me say that again for the woman in the back who needed to hear it:
“The absence of visible growth is not the absence of growth!”
What looks like nothing from the surface might be the deepest, most important work you’ve ever done. God doesn’t waste seasons. He builds foundations.
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The Deeper Truth
Here’s what I love about this bamboo metaphor: the tree doesn’t spend four years doing nothing. It spends four years becoming capable of holding what’s coming.
Without those roots, a 90-foot tree would collapse under its own weight. The very thing that felt like wasted time was the thing that made the breakthrough sustainable.
God works the same way.
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”
— Ecclesiastes 3:11
Beautiful in its time. Not in your timeline. Not in the world’s timeline. In HIS time.
Think about the people in Scripture who waited:
Sarah waited about 25 years from God's initial promise to Abraham until she finally gave birth to Isaac at age 90.
Joseph spent 13 years between the dream and the palace, and most of those years were spent in a pit and a prison.
Moses spent 40 years in a desert before God called him back.
Hannah endured years of barrenness and yearly pilgrimages to Shiloh before the Lord remembered her and gave her Samuel.
David was anointed king as a teenager and didn’t wear the crown until he was 30.
None of them were doing nothing during the wait. They were putting down roots. Learning trust. Building the character that would be required to carry the calling.
And here’s the part nobody talks about:
If the bamboo farmer had gotten impatient at year three and dug up the seed to check on it? The seed would have died.
If he’d walked away in year four because he couldn’t see results? Dead.
The growth required his continued faithfulness even when there was zero visible evidence that it was working.
“Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.” — James 5:7–8
The farmer doesn’t dig up the seeds to check if they’re working. He trusts the process. He trusts the rain. He trusts the One who controls the seasons.
And notice: James doesn’t say the farmer is passive.
He’s waiting AND working.
He’s patient AND present.
He keeps showing up.
That’s the bamboo way.
That’s the faith way.
Download Your Free 7 Faces of Exhaustion™ Self-Assessment
What This Means for You
Sweet friend, maybe you’re in a bamboo season right now.
Maybe you’ve been praying and nothing has shifted.
Maybe you’ve been working on your health and the scale hasn’t moved.
Maybe you’ve been building something; a ministry, a business, a new chapter of your life, writing your first book or Substack newsletter and it feels like nothing is happening.
Maybe you’ve been investing in a relationship that still feels fragile.
I need you to hear this: something IS happening. You just can’t see it yet.
The roots are growing. The foundation is deepening. God is doing underground work that will make your above-ground breakthrough unshakeable.
So don’t dig up the seed. Don’t abandon the ground you’ve been watering. Don’t compare your dirt to someone else’s bloom.
Your bloom is coming. And when it does? Ninety feet, sweet friend. Ninety feet.
Remember This Truth
Slow growth is not failed growth. It’s deep growth.
The thing that looks like nothing from the surface might be the strongest foundation you’ve ever built.
God doesn’t waste your waiting. He uses every single day of it.
Keep watering.
Keep showing up.
Your bamboo season has a breakthrough on the other side.
An Invitation
This week, I want you to think about your bamboo season. What are you tending right now that hasn’t broken through the surface yet? What seed have you planted that feels like it’s taking forever?
Instead of digging it up, try this: write it down. Name the seed. Then underneath it, write: “God is building my roots.”
📣 What’s your bamboo? What seed are you faithfully watering right now? Reply or comment below.⬇️
Let’s believe together for the breakthrough that is coming. For God said ‘it is done!’
You are not stuck.
You are growing.
And you are not alone in this.🙌🏼
Joyfully yours,
I’d love to have you join the Joy God’s Way® Community Chat, so we can keep moving from exhaustion into joy together, God’s way! 🌿
🌿Rooted in Scripture. Renewed in Spirit. Restored in Joy! 🌿
Oh my dear friend! This is a magnificent essay.
You touched my heart.
Higher Power always has our backs. Surrendering to a Timeline that's bigger than our own is a lesson that will help us keep our composure and do our best work.
I'm so glad you are being heard.
I'm so grateful I read your words today.🫖📚
This was a word!!! Thank you so much! One of my favorite lines you shared: “The absence of visible growth is not the absence of growth.” I felt that so deep. I will be using this and the story of the bamboo, not only for myself, but in my work with the students and teachers that I lead.