Episode 16 - When God Provides One Step at a Time
- Glory & Grit
- Jun 7
- 28 min read
Show Notes:
Summary
In this episode of Glory & Grit, Stephanie talks with Jenna Zanotto about learning to trust God one step at a time.
Jenna shares about becoming a single mother, being diagnosed with lupus, facing financial hardship, and depending on God’s provision in a season where she could not see how everything would work out. Her story includes unexpected help, paid bills, gas money, protection during a storm, and a last-minute check that covered rent and paid off her car.
But this conversation is not just about one big miracle moment. It is about the small ways God shows up in the middle — through people, timing, provision, and quiet reminders that He has not forgotten us.
Jenna also shares a powerful image God gave her through one tiny Lego piece: one connector, one step, one piece at a time.
If you are waiting on provision, healing, direction, or the next faithful step, this conversation is a reminder that you do not have to see the whole picture to trust the One who is building it.
About Jenna Zanotto
I am a 41-year-old single mom and Christian entrepreneur from Oklahoma City. Host of You're HER Conferences and the Greater Is In Me community. My God-given purpose is to help women find their true identity in Christ & activate the woman God called them to be.
Key Topics
Single motherhood and unexpected life changes
Lupus, physical pain, and emotional exhaustion
Financial hardship and government assistance
God’s provision through people, timing, and practical help
Being one day away from eviction
Learning to surrender control
Trusting God before the breakthrough comes
The Lego piece analogy: one connector, one step
Staying aligned with God in both lack and success
Encouragement for listeners still waiting..
Takeaways
God’s provision does not always come all at once.
Waiting does not mean God has forgotten you.
Needing help does not mean you are failing.
The next step matters.
God is present in both the miracle and the middle.
Transcript:
Stephanie (00:00)
Welcome back to Glory and Grit, where faith meets real life. I'm Stephanie, and I'm really glad you're here with me because today's conversation is with Jenna Zanato. And her story is one of those testimonies that reminds us God's provision doesn't always come all at once.
Sometimes it comes one step at a time, one person at a time, one unexpected door at a time.
Jenna shares about becoming a single mother, being diagnosed with lupus, walking through financial hardship, relying on government assistance, and learning to trust God when she couldn't see how things were going to work out. In this episode, she talks about the pain of the season, the small and big ways God provided, and a powerful picture.
God gave her through one little Lego piece and a reminder to stay connected to Him one step at a time. I love that this conversation doesn't just point out the big miracle moment. It also points out the middle,
The waiting, the weakness, the uncertainty, and the quiet ways, God is still present. so whether you are waiting on provision, healing, direction, or simply the next faithful step.
I pray this conversation reminds you that God sees more than you can see right now. Here's my conversation with Jenna Zanato.
Stephanie (02:02)
All right, Jenna. I'm grateful to have you here with us today on Glory and Grit. So welcome.
Jenna Zanotto (02:10)
Thank you. Thank you for having me. I am so grateful we were able to connect and be able to get this done.
Stephanie (02:17)
Yes. When we first talked, what stood out to me about your story was not just that God had provided for you, but that he met you in a season where you were caring a lot. You were a single mom, you were having physical pains from your lupus, financial needs and all those uncertainties.
One of the images you shared that really stuck with me. I even went and bought some Lego pieces. That Lego story stuck with me. So at one point I want to share that with our audience as well. But I love how you can you use that to show a connection.
Jenna Zanotto (02:55)
⁓
Stephanie (03:05)
⁓ to God, one connection to Him, one step at a time, and learning not to run before God. So today I want to walk through that season with you and talk about what it looks like to trust God one step at a time.
let's start at the beginning. Can you take us back to the season, ⁓ back to that season of your life and tell us what was happening in your life when this part of your testimony was beginning?
Jenna Zanotto (03:38)
So the I mean my testimony probably begins at the piece of being saved. And and so from becoming saved to having my son was like just about a year and maybe four or five months. And then six months into him being born, I was diagnosed with lupus. we had
Stephanie (03:55)
Right.
Jenna Zanotto (04:06)
some adjustments within our family and his dad had moved out so I became a single mom at the about the same week I got diagnosed with lupus. and God really ⁓ just the storm was formed to be able to have me press on him. That that was it. It was just the Lord and I and my son because I physically had ailments. I financially now had major
obstacles having one income leave the house but also not being able to work what much I ended up having to quit my job because of lupus and so it it caused me to it just the Lord and I and that was it and that's what God all he to this day has reminded me of. We're now fifteen years later, ⁓ into that and he continues to run me. It's me and him and a deserted island. Like that's all that matters. So
Stephanie (04:59)
Right.
Awesome, awesome. So I remember in our pre interview we talked about a moment when there was an an accident and you received a payment that helped take care of your rent and your car payment, paid your car payment off. Before right before that provision came, what did trusting God actually look like on a day to day basis when you were
Really in the grid of it.
Jenna Zanotto (05:32)
Ooh, so there were many times that the Lord showed up in that. It was about that was about a year and a half altogether, two years of walking through that season of financial burden and not having true income. I received a little disability and and things like that along the way, but as a whole I had to rely on him. So there were many times of getting phone calls of my prat my pastor would call me even though I hadn't prayed or I hadn't said to him, but all I did was
pray and he would call me and said hey I had a very generous donor come in and wants to pay rent for you but you don't know them and they don't know you so I'll leave that out but let me let me go ahead and get this done for you. I'd have I'd call I'd look at my electric bill and it would be paid and I mean it was just the Lord kept showing up so the one time that you're speaking of was kind of the final catalyst to a lot of of things but as far as along the that path
Stephanie (06:14)
Right.
Jenna Zanotto (06:31)
It was just God and I and me going, I don't know how I'm gonna do this. I don't know how I'm gonna do this over and over and over again. And the little nudges from Him, sometimes them being the smallest things, and other times, I mean, I remember a lady giving me a card at church and said,
Stephanie (06:37)
Hmm.
Jenna Zanotto (06:51)
you n you never have to worry about two incomes. It was it was a secret donor because she I never she never revealed herself. But you can always fill your gas tank up when you have the Lord and gave me forty dollars. N I never know I never knew who that was. ⁓ she had had somebody else come to give it to me. And so it was the little nudges that led to the the large so I had re s I was in a car accident and ⁓ I was in the car accident in March
Stephanie (06:55)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Jenna Zanotto (07:20)
And my house flooded at that same time, which I mean there's just a lot of things that happened in that direct week in March that ⁓ was like this is the end, right? Because you're going through that time and you're like, I can't take another hit. I don't know how this is all gonna gonna work out. And so the man hit me ⁓ on the side of my car, blamed me, and initially in that
Stephanie (07:24)
⁓ right.
⁓ Right.
Jenna Zanotto (07:47)
In that story, I got the call from the insurance agency saying, No, you were at fault. And I'm like, he's blindsided me. He came out of nowhere and just hit me, and it was a one-lane road. And but God nudged me and said, Ask to speak to a supervisor. Calmly, you don't have to fight it. Like you have me now. You have me in this. You don't have so I spoke to a supervisor. I
Stephanie (07:54)
Mm.
Right.
Right.
Jenna Zanotto (08:13)
Months l went by and we're now into July and I was on welfare at that time, receiving about $300 a month, which went a lot into my gas tank to get to the welfare office, because I had to show up at the welfare office every day. So that wasn't paying rent. And I was on the verge of eviction as of the 15th. ⁓ my car had the dent in it still, but I had never heard anything back. And there was never a discussion as far as what that was gonna happen.
Stephanie (08:27)
⁓
Right.
Jenna Zanotto (08:43)
what they were gonna do. And I just
In that I can't say because I was planning for the worst, I was planning for I'm probably going to end up in a shelter tonight. Like it was one of those types of things. I'm gonna end up in a shelter. I need to prepare for somewhere for my son. ⁓ I don't want to take him into this situation. I called my parents, could you help? My dad was like, I'll help you come up back home, because I live in Oklahoma and they live in California. We can get you back home, but we're not gonna pay your rent there.
Stephanie (08:51)
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Jenna Zanotto (09:16)
There.
And so I can't, I don't remember a falling to my knees moment. I think a lot of it was true surrender and going, if by chance this isn't nothing like God, if you don't come through, and I am at the last of the last, I need to to at least plan my way into what's next. ⁓ and I checked my mailbox that day, and I had a check from my my car was completely tolded out. They totaled out the car. There's a check in my mailbox for I was able to pay my car.
Stephanie (09:25)
Mm.
Right.
Jenna Zanotto (09:46)
car off and pay my rent. And that same week I started a job that launched my career into what I pretty much do now. And so it was
Stephanie (09:55)
Mm-hmm.
Jenna Zanotto (09:59)
I'm kinda in the same position in life right now in a lot of ways. When you think you're at your end. When you think that there's nothing else and you're planning for the Bs and the C's and if this doesn't work out, then I'm just gonna have to give it all up or if this business doesn't work out, I'm gonna have to go find a job.
Stephanie (10:10)
Mm. ⁓
Right.
Jenna Zanotto (10:17)
And God comes through and he is working on the blind faith in my life currently to go, no, speak life into it. You don't even need to plan the B's and the C's. If you declare it to be done and you have that authority, you you do have that authority to speak life. And so that is right now, he's like, speak life. And the checks show up. And the rent gets paid and the new career is launched at the end. What seems like the end.
Stephanie (10:28)
Right.
Right.
Right. I think a key word there we've talked a lot about this season is surrender, like true surrendering it over to God and letting him handle it and take care of it. ⁓ some
Jenna Zanotto (10:57)
Cause in the mid-stop,
I was tithing on my welfare check. I was tithing on the nothing. And I do think that needs to be spoken of too. Like even within the generosity, if I got ⁓ my taxes back, I was still giving in ways that ⁓ probably people would say that's reckless because you don't have.
Stephanie (11:14)
Right, right.
You're still giving that ten percent out of the hundred percent. It may have been hundred percent of a small amount, but you still gave that ten percent back to the Lord to do whatever could needed to be done with it. That's great faith. And surrendering it to him. Like you can I'm gonna give you what you asked me for and I'm gonna wait and see what we need to do to break out the rest.
Jenna Zanotto (11:34)
Yeah, and it
When I don't know how you're gonna show up, but you're gonna show up. And I I just remember praising him regularly as I was driving to the welfare office in that season. Just that was grateful, I think Hezekiah Walker, grateful over and over and over again. And people say, How could you be grateful? And when ⁓ nothing. But there's so much to be grateful for and I think that's a big key.
Stephanie (11:47)
Yeah, I guess.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Is
there is if we just take a moment and look, it may be small, but there is something we can be grateful for. And I think the Lord appreciates a grateful heart, especially when we think we have nothing. I think He really appreciates that and that faith that we have. You talked about
How God had provided for you in so many different ways during that season.
do you remember other than the provision, do you remember little small ways that you might want to share that the Lord basically showed up and said, Hey, hey kiddo, I know. I remember you. I know you're there.
Jenna Zanotto (12:51)
Mm.
mean one for sure was the nudge with the gas money. ⁓ that was so taken back. The other is the Lord sent me my son's godmother in the midsta and
Stephanie (12:58)
Yes.
Jenna Zanotto (13:09)
She showed up the allowing the Lord to use her as a vessel with such grace. She would see me struggling in the church that I didn't really know anyone in, with this bait six month-old baby, really hard hard to hold him 'cause I'm sick and I'm in pain. And she would just come and and get him. She
Stephanie (13:15)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Jenna Zanotto (13:32)
Just in the the littlest of nudges in of hey have you guys are do you plan on going to eat? We wanna come with us. It would never made she always ⁓ made sure we had without making us feel we were less of. And to me, that's the God nudges, as much as we're so prideful in times like that, to go, I'm good, everything's fine, I have it together. And he sends someone who says
Stephanie (13:42)
Right.
Mm-hmm.
Jenna Zanotto (13:58)
yeah, you have it together and I will befriend you and let's walk this out together. And never made me feel like less of always ⁓ I mean she truly just took my son and I under her wing without and that's God. It's he used her, ⁓ I mean many different things and different avenues
Stephanie (14:04)
Right, right.
So he used her.
Jenna Zanotto (14:24)
protection our house our apartment at the time it was a one bedroom apartment my son was sleeping in the living room and we just so happened to get asked to go to a little meeting gathering one evening and we came home and our windows were completely blown in from a storm with hail storm and he would have been sleeping in the front room at that time. That was a God nudge. And having my eyes open to know what was happening
Stephanie (14:41)
Right.
Hmm.
Jenna Zanotto (14:54)
To know for sure I have to praise you because you s you saved me from that. You saved my child from getting hurt with glass all over him. Like so I those are the little things that I think maybe it's not big to somebody, maybe it wasn't a someone coming in and swooping in and doing something, but it's these little things that I had the awareness to know God is protecting us and keeping us. I over and over and over again.
Stephanie (15:00)
Right.
Jenna Zanotto (15:21)
in i I think more so stepping out of it. Once I was away from that season, I can look back and say even the job that I was in was less money than I had ever made because I was like, I gotta find a job, I gotta figure it out. And I had two offers. ⁓ one was for $10 an hour and the other one was for $14. But God said choose this other one. It has longevity. Like this there's one that it's gonna be a job and it does pay four dollars more an hour, but choose the lower paying job.
Stephanie (15:24)
Mm-hmm.
Mm.
Jenna Zanotto (15:50)
That has now taken me fourteen years into a career. I mean, it's those things that it it's no one but God and you just don't realize in the meantime, but it there's no way it could have happened if it wasn't for his hand on my life.
Stephanie (15:50)
Mm.
thank you for sharing that. That's a very good point. you
Talked about in the pre-interview having lupus and remember days were so hard sometimes where it was hard to hold your son. Can you walk us through what those days were feeling like and how
you could feel or remember that God's gonna come through. God's there. When those days when the pain was really tough and you wanted to just pick him up and hold him and you couldn't
Jenna Zanotto (16:45)
Mm.
I feel that there's it could be I mean there's a few different things within that. One is that it was I think the Lord gave me the strength to get him to church.
Stephanie (17:03)
Mm-hmm.
Jenna Zanotto (17:03)
Because
even in the midst of we lived on it's like second story apartment, I'd have to get him in his carrier and get down the stairs and I couldn't get dressed. Like it was a period of time that even driving to the doctor's office, I'd have to pull over and nap to get to the doctor's office. I didn't have any strength. and the fatigue was so heavy. The pain was so heavy, ⁓ which takes such a mental
Stephanie (17:20)
Mm.
Jenna Zanotto (17:32)
strain on you that people I mean they talk about it a bit but when you're really in it I don't think I understood and so therefore there was a lot of pe there was a lot of postpartum along with it that it was hard for me to connect with my son because I am not myself and I am in such pain in such high levels of pain that I can't think straight.
Stephanie (17:39)
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Mm.
Jenna Zanotto (17:57)
⁓ my
son also had colic for the first three months of his life. And so yeah, ⁓ getting to six months, it was there was just high stress in his environment that now I can sit back and see. So I loved on him in a lot of the ways that I could. He's also a really big kid even now to this day. He was a really big baby. He was a really he was a really big baby, and so
Stephanie (18:19)
Yes, we were just talking about that.
Jenna Zanotto (18:26)
That was even harder. I mean you see people look at you like no way he's only six months and I'm like struggling to handle this toddler. And ⁓ he I I think we I would try to improvise a lot. There was a lot of times of him just like sitting in bed with me, laying in bed with me, or that we would sit on the floor and I'd read to him. I couldn't do a lot of the things. In fact, I have a doctor, my pain doctor
Stephanie (18:34)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Jenna Zanotto (18:54)
that I filled out a questionnaire when I went to go ⁓ start seeing him thirteen years ago now I guess and I said I just wanna take my son to the park. Like that's my goal of this therapy is to try to be able to take my son to the park because I physically couldn't I physically could barely get to the doctor. That the place that could help me. So I say that to say that it's ⁓
Stephanie (19:06)
So
Mm.
Mm-hmm.
Jenna Zanotto (19:22)
It was probably more of the mental pieces that God took me out of. And I I believe I have journals from that time and reading a lot of that of can you just take pain away? Can like I know you're here with me, God, but but this is hard, but ⁓ I don't know how much more I can do.
Stephanie (19:31)
⁓
Mm mm. Did you write journ in journals prior to that season or did you start during that season?
Jenna Zanotto (19:53)
think I've on and off journaled since I was a teenager. ⁓ but that season it kicked up for a period of time. And that's something I noticed in my life when I am really close to the Lord, I am journaling a lot more. ⁓ because of those downloads and because he's giving so much. And also, I am giving so much. That's it's kind of a twofold within the my journal process of it's me speaking to him and him speaking to me.
Stephanie (20:02)
Mm-hmm.
Mm.
Mm.
Jenna Zanotto (20:20)
So I think that I did probably more so then because I also am in a a place by myself and that was my first time truly living alone. So that was a a new experience for me to have a to sit in a space that y you can talk to your son, but like there's not much there. ⁓ so I took to journaling for a period of time then, yes.
Stephanie (20:28)
Mm-hmm.
Mm.
journaling is awesome in helping you get those emotions and those thoughts out. And I think it helps you process a little better as well. All right. Please share with the listeners the Lego analogy that you make because I absolutely love that.
Jenna Zanotto (21:10)
Well and it's an analogy God it blindsided me with. ⁓ I was out to dinner with my girlfriends for my birthday a month ago and it was a beautiful process that I was working through a lot of emotions even there as I was sitting at the table for my birthday and kind of going, I don't know what I'm doing next. I don't know how to do it. And ⁓ those seasons that
Stephanie (21:15)
Ha ha ha
Jenna Zanotto (21:38)
You really wanna have blind faith, but blind faith is really hard. And so that night I came home and I pulled back the covers of my bed and there was a tiny Lego piece. ⁓ I and I apologize. I still do have it, but I apologize I didn't bring it. ⁓ a tiny Lego piece that ⁓ God just immediately spoke to me and said, You don't have to figure out the whole thing. You don't have to put together the entire
Stephanie (21:54)
That
Jenna Zanotto (22:09)
set if you just come to me for each piece, because this piece specifically only had one connector, which I feel is unique because the next. If I you come to me for this, I'll give you the next. And that's the only piece you need to worry about is this one piece and it will connect you to the next. You gotta come to me for each and every one.
Stephanie (22:18)
Mm-hmm. Yes.
Jenna Zanotto (22:36)
I'm the type of person that if he gave me the box with all of the instructions, then I'm doing it tonight. And I'm doing it on my own. And I'm not I'm not asking him how to do it. I'm like, I got this figured out. I'm gonna run with it. And the Lord said, No, I need I need to be the builder of this masterpiece. And that's one Lego at a time. We get ahead of ourselves, and that was his way. And so the next morning I had said to my son, I'm like, I it just
Stephanie (22:43)
Right.
Mm.
Jenna Zanotto (23:05)
absolutely hit me because at the time I'm going, there's no way we don't have Legos in the house. My son now is ⁓ going on fifteen. He doesn't play with Legos now. And ⁓ I said, Did you by chance put a Lego in my bed? And he just cracked up laughing and said, Yes I did. I thought it was so funny. ⁓ he had no he had no understanding of what God was doing. But in that moment it was just it it was so powerful and it continues to be powerful. I think about it a lot.
Stephanie (23:35)
That will forever change how I see Lego sets. I love it.
Jenna Zanotto (23:40)
And
what the one connector. I think that to me is the piece. The one little connector. Yeah.
Stephanie (23:44)
Right,
right. In the later season, talking about ⁓ success and learning again, you also mentioned that you had built a career, opened a business, and experienced some success, but then God still had to teach you something.
about staying in alignment with him. So what did that season look like trying to stay in alignment with him? Cause sometimes that's hard to do.
Jenna Zanotto (24:24)
Stephanie, he's still teaching me today.
Stephanie (24:27)
That's great. That's great.
Jenna Zanotto (24:32)
And all I can say is, I mean, for me sometimes it feels like a whole different personality because when I'm with him and I'm operating by the Holy Spirit, everything is it it's not that it's not hard, but it's not that it doesn't get di get difficult, but it's like floating on a cloud.
Stephanie (24:40)
Mm.
Mm-hmm.
Jenna Zanotto (24:56)
Like, turn right, and I turn right and turn left and go talk to this person at the grocery store. And then it's this opening of a conversation that both of us needed, or it that is that beauty of when I'm with him and in alignment. And mind you, it's it it does get difficult. Like that's the part that I think is hard in Christianity when people go, but I am I'm with God, but it's getting difficult, or it's hard to make this decision, or it's hard.
Stephanie (24:58)
Mm-hmm.
Mm.
Jenna Zanotto (25:25)
I don't know how to move to the next. And the misconception what I've been speaking of to my girlfriend this week is that peace comes in all of that. No, God said that He would be in all of that. That doesn't mean it's this peaceful thing. It it gets hard. Like that's the true rawness of it. ⁓ and when I am not in him, I begin to like negative self talk for
Stephanie (25:34)
Mm-hmm.
Right. Right, right, right.
Jenna Zanotto (25:52)
Definitely that is a big piece is the negative self-talk of ⁓ I'm I mess this up. And so what happens? I can mess it up when I'm not with him. ⁓ I'm not storting things well when I'm not with him. And even though there's wisdom and there's things that we do carry, there is that check by the Holy Spirit when you are in alignment that is a quicker maneuver through life than when I am.
Stephanie (25:58)
Mm-hmm.
Right, right.
Jenna Zanotto (26:21)
mishandling something and you kind of feel it and you go, I'm gonna do it anyways. But when you're when the Holy Spirit is within you, I can't physically do it. I'm not going to spend that money on something I have no business spending it on. Or that's just an example, but business deals are a lot easier. Alignment to me is such a beautiful process it and walking in obedience, again, it it it does it's hard.
Stephanie (26:25)
Hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Jenna Zanotto (26:49)
Getting to the next level and what he's trying to teach you to me has become very hard and it's like gym being in the gym all the time because you want to revert back to your old ways. So in building my business and ⁓ getting to that place, the moment things started to go wrong because I wasn't in him, it was, you messed this up. Mind you
Stephanie (26:49)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Jenna Zanotto (27:13)
I I had a large client leave that has nothing to do with me. They their company completely restructured. There's a lot of things, but my flesh went zero to sixty. No, it was because of you. And there's no way that you can that you can't have good you can't have nice things. That's been a big thing in my life. That's a negative agreement that I've come into at some point that's I can't have nice things. And so
Stephanie (27:20)
Right.
Yeah.
Hmm.
Jenna Zanotto (27:41)
God will continue to prove that to me until I begin to come into agreement in that alignment of I am worthy. And if the Lord is in it, it will never be taken away. Nothing is lost in the kingdom. All of those things are to be true. But man, you fight this, it's like the good angel and the devil on your shoulder because the flesh will try to override what God is trying to do within that alignment. So I've had ⁓
Stephanie (28:04)
Mm. Right.
Jenna Zanotto (28:09)
Major ups, major downs within business, and all while all I can say is if you're not kingdom focused, it'll take you out. But I can step away and say, God is teaching me X, Y, and Z there. man, he's taken away so much because stewardship, because my heart posture, because he has specifically said to me, the world would eat you alive if I released you the way you are now.
Stephanie (28:25)
Yeah.
Mm, mm.
Jenna Zanotto (28:37)
Because I had spirit
of rejection. So the moment somebody an employee would say I wasn't doing a good job, ⁓ that took me out. But truth is I wasn't really doing a good job in some ways. And I didn't have the heart posture to accept that feedback at the time. And so you have to have the kingdom lens lens to be able to go, okay, what's what's the lesson here, God? Like to me that's part of getting back into alignment.
Stephanie (28:46)
Right.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Jenna Zanotto (29:04)
If you look at it as everything's bad, everything's negative, or I did it to myself, you're you can't get to that next that he's trying to take you to.
Stephanie (29:04)
Mm-hmm.
Right,
right. that reminded me of a talk I heard in church Sunday. the speaker said that God doesn't always take the challenge away from me, but he allows me, he helps me to carry it. It's like you need it, so I'm not gonna take it from you, but I will help you carry it and walk you through it so that you can come out better on the other side.
Jenna Zanotto (29:28)
Yeah.
Stephanie (29:37)
I think we forget that sometimes that God never promised us a perfect life. He promised us that it would be worth it when we got to the end.
Jenna Zanotto (29:45)
Hundred percent we keep
navigating looking for peace, which is comfort. It's not always gonna be comfortable.
Stephanie (29:50)
Yes, yes.
Yeah. And think about it, when I'm comfortable, I'm not growing. I'm sitting back relaxed with a diet Dr. Pepper in my hand and I'm just having a good time. Just stagnant water, not learning a thing. Okay. What would you say to listeners who are still in the middle?
Jenna Zanotto (30:02)
Stagnant water. It's true.
Stephanie (30:19)
of their season or their mess or however they want to describe it, what would you say to them to help them understand that
The waiting is not to blame them or to say it's your fault you're in this situation because they might some people might still be there. So what would you say to them to help them get over that like you did and to move up into no, giving it to God and not trying to beat yourself up and think that it's all your fault
That was a long way to ask that question, sorry.
Jenna Zanotto (30:56)
Yeah, I think
that there's a few parts for me that come to mind that one is ⁓ what feels like a setback is a setup for success. He knows all things. And
Stephanie (31:06)
⁓ I love that.
Jenna Zanotto (31:09)
what was my worst week of the house flooding and the car accident. I didn't know that was positioned for a few months later to get me into the next. So what always looks like the storm, the Lord's like, hold on tight. It's really not what you see, but you gotta go higher. And I'm working all things out for the good. It's it's truly
Stephanie (31:31)
Mm.
Jenna Zanotto (31:33)
It's hard when you're in it. I'm in it right now. And and the other thing that came was you always have to have your spirit open for the suddenly.
Because he can change it suddenly. You can have somebody come to your door say, ⁓ I mean, you have to to have the blind faith and be open in the spirit. If you're not accepting it and you're not speaking life and you're always looking at things as far as it's always going to fail, that's never going to happen to me, that suddenly can't take place. And so for God to truly move, I I truly believe it has to be that alignment in spirit of just being open to God. I don't know how you're gonna do it.
Stephanie (31:47)
Mm-hmm.
Jenna Zanotto (32:13)
But you're gonna come through and you're gonna do it and you're gonna do it big. And and he does. So it while it looks really hard, ⁓ and it probably is hard to get out of bed and it's hard to move your body and it's hard to even think good things when it's that heavy.
Stephanie (32:14)
Mm you gotta do it.
Jenna Zanotto (32:33)
It is in that that he's working. And you that's the part that's the faith. That is what he is just working that muscle of faith in you. That it when it looks dark, are you grateful? When it looks dark, do you believe that I'm gonna show up? Because if you're truly my child, you know I won't leave you here. That
Stephanie (32:54)
Mm.
Jenna Zanotto (32:57)
I I'd say that would be the big piece. You think that he's not that he's but he's he's got stuff going on in the back, you have no idea.
Stephanie (32:58)
Yeah.
R I I've said a couple of episodes ago, just because he's silent doesn't mean he's not there. It means he's working. It means he's working for your benefit. I usually share a scripture at the end of each episode based on whatever the topic is for that episode. I'm gonna ask you if you have a scripture that you
Jenna Zanotto (33:11)
Yeah. Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Stephanie (33:34)
really relied on during your hard season, or if you just have a favorite scripture that you thought back to often during that season?
Jenna Zanotto (33:43)
So during that period of time, I would put sticky notes. And this right here, it's number six twenty-four through twenty-seven. It says August twenty.
Stephanie (33:48)
⁓ love it.
Jenna Zanotto (33:54)
2012 and it says lupus in school because I was also go trying to go to school at the time. I finished some classes, but I didn't graduate in that time frame. and so
Stephanie (33:59)
Right.
Jenna Zanotto (34:03)
God would have me put these little sticky notes for me as I mean as reminders and it's so beautiful how he's continued to show me that randomly. And there's not a a ton in here, but there's a few. And so when I get it, it's that nudge of like, remember do you remember that time? ⁓ that it seems so hard. And so, yeah, Numbers six, twenty-four through twenty-seven is the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn
His face towards you and give you peace. So they will put my name on the Israelites and I will bless them. And it's it's interesting because I don't go to that often, like I said, but ⁓ it's like if you have a little bit of hope, or you know he's there with you, and ⁓
Stephanie (34:51)
Yeah.
Jenna Zanotto (35:00)
It plays in my head more so than I go to it in my Bible. And those seasons, need a lot of Philippians was part of ⁓ a part of that season too of coming to know the Lord to lay down anxieties and be able to
Stephanie (35:04)
Mm, mm.
Yeah.
Jenna Zanotto (35:20)
accept the new that I was given by receiving salvation and so I I think that I encourage that
Stephanie (35:22)
Mm.
Jenna Zanotto (35:29)
For anyone is to document where he's taking you in the season. He takes me right now to the end of Job. About once a week. I he will cause the way I do it is I flip my Bible open randomly to a scripture every day. And that chapter I or whatever chapter on the pages I will read and it feeds me what I'm supposed to know for that day and to get through. So right now it's the end of Job and I pray that that to be true.
Stephanie (35:35)
Right.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Thank
Jenna Zanotto (35:59)
Walk.
Stephanie (36:01)
Jenna, when someone hears your story on the podcast, what do you hope they remember about God while they're facing all of their ⁓ hard season? Or what do you hope they remember about your testimony?
Jenna Zanotto (36:20)
One thing I didn't learn in that season, but I wish I would have understood it at a different level because it's really changed my life, is the Lord created us to commune with him. And we at times will look to him as so far you don't even understand what I'm going through. Or you are so removed from this. And he's like, Come to me, daughter.
Stephanie (36:31)
Mm-hmm.
Mm. ⁓
You don't even know.
Jenna Zanotto (36:49)
I just want to talk to you about it. And I think that the more we can gain that just moment-to-moment relationship, because it's not a day, it's it it's so minuscule compared to saying daily or making sure you have your prayer time in the morning. Are you with him? And is he allowed to breathe in you? And he he's
so intertwined in all of the things, but we have to invite him. And that's the other piece. He doesn't have dominion in a lot of the situations. He sees it, but we have to invite him into the problem. So in he's like, come on, come talk to me.
Stephanie (37:27)
Mm.
Jenna Zanotto (37:32)
⁓ I'm in the midst of writing and I wrote a piece regarding where it's almost like that scary dad in the movies that sits behind his desk and he has his office and he's like with his pipe and we don't wanna bother him and you come around the corner and it's like dark and scary and you don't wanna but the whole time he's like come be come on my lap.
Stephanie (37:45)
Mm-hmm.
Right,
Jenna Zanotto (37:54)
Put
Stephanie (37:54)
right.
Jenna Zanotto (37:54)
head on my
and let's talk and let's figure it out together. Because that's all he wants us to do. He doesn't expect us to get it all right. And he doesn't expect us to know all things. He does.
Stephanie (38:07)
That is so true. He's a very good father. Our Heavenly Father is a very good father, and he likes to talk to us. And he likes it when we come to him and talk out our problems. As any parent, that's what every parent wants, was for their kid to come to them and talk to them about their problems so that they can help them. That is a very good point. Thank you for sharing that with us today. And I'm so grateful we finally got to do our podcast together.
Although I hear in your testimony that
God's provision isn't always just one big thing. He didn't just come in and go, BAM, I'm here. Now everything will be perfect. ⁓ sometimes it's just taking the next faithful step. One little connection, right, right? and that he's not left us. And so I'm very grateful for your testimony and for you willing to share it with us today on Glory and Grit.
Jenna Zanotto (38:54)
All my dropping is
Stephanie (39:07)
And for reminding us that even in the waiting, even in all of our needs, that we can't see the whole picture. Only God can. All we can see is the little trees. He can see the whole forest. And so we need to keep that faith. And so thank you so much for joining us today.
You're welcome.
Jenna Zanotto (39:28)
thank you for having me. I appreciate
you.
Stephanie (39:31)
I'm so grateful Jenna shared her story with us today. What stood out to me the most is that God's provision
was not only in that big moment when the check arrived, his provision was also in the gas money, the bills paid, the people who stepped in, the job that didn't look like the obvious choice, and the quiet reminders that he had not forgotten her. And I keep thinking about that Lego piece. One connector, one step.
One piece at a time.
Sometimes we want God to hand us the whole finished picture. We want the full instructions, the full timeline, the full answers, and the full plan. But often He invites us to stay close enough to receive the next piece. Not the whole set, just the next piece.
if you're in a season where you're waiting, hurting, trying to figure out what comes next, or just wondering how is God gonna provide?
I hope Jenna's story reminds you that waiting doesn't mean abandonment. Needing help doesn't mean failing.
And not knowing the full plan does not mean God is not building something.
Sometimes faith looks like staying connected to him in the middle of uncertainty and trusting him with the next step.
Jenna mentioned this passage during our conversation, and I think it's a beautiful scripture to carry with us after her testimony. Numbers 6, 24 through 26. The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee.
The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace.
Thank you for listening to Glory and Grit. If this episode encouraged you, I'd love for you to share it with someone who may need a reminder that God is still faithful, even when the whole picture isn't clear yet.
And as always, you can find episode reflection guides and show notes and photos at gloryandgrid podcast.com. Until next time, keep looking for God's glory, even in the grit. Bye now.
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