Stay in the Story: A Guided Journal on Faith, Delay, and the Courage to Ask

What do you do when you’ve asked Jesus for something, but the story doesn’t seem to be going the way you expected?

You stay in the story.

Stay in the Story is a guided journal that walks alongside Jairus through Mark 5:21–42 and invites you to bring your own story with you. Jairus came to Jesus desperate for his daughter. Jesus said yes. Then came an interruption. A delay. A devastating report. Fear. Noise. And finally, a hand reaching down and the words, “Little girl, get up.”

Maybe your story has some of those same moments.

Through six powerful movements, The Approach, The Interruption, The Report, The Choice, The Noise, and Talitha Koum, this journal helps you honestly explore where you are, what you’re waiting for, what voices you’re listening to, and what your next step of faith might look like.

This isn’t a journal filled with empty pages and generic questions. Each section includes Scripture, a short teaching, intentional reflection questions, a unique hands-on activity, space for personal prayer, a verse to carry, and plenty of room to keep writing as God works through your story. There’s no required pace. Take a section in one sitting, spend a week with it, or stay there for an entire season.

Because sometimes faith isn’t pretending the interruption doesn’t hurt. It isn’t ignoring the report or silencing every question.

Sometimes faith is simply refusing to leave the story before Jesus is finished.

Bring your questions. Bring your waiting. Bring the report that sounded final. Bring the noise, the fear, and the thing you’re still asking Jesus to do.

Your story is still being written. Stay in it.