The Next Right Thing by Emily P. Freeman

Week 11: Chapter 10 — Allow the Fog to Descend

Read Chapter 10 of The Next Right Thing by Emily P. Freeman.

Some of the most important wisdom in this book arrives in one of its most unexpected invitations: what if the fog — the season of not knowing — is not a problem to be solved but a gift to be received?

Discussion Questions

7 questions

1.Freeman uses the image of 'fog' to describe seasons of ambiguity, uncertainty, and not-knowing. What is your typical emotional response when you enter a foggy season? Fight, flee, freeze, or something else?

2.She challenges the assumption that clarity is always the goal — that sometimes God is doing something in us during the fog that could not happen in the clear. Can you look back on a foggy season and see what it produced in you that the clarity before or after could not?

3.Freeman writes about the temptation to force a decision just to end the discomfort of not knowing. Have you ever rushed a decision primarily to escape the fog rather than because clarity had genuinely arrived? What happened?

4.She offers the counterintuitive counsel to 'allow the fog to descend' — to stop fighting ambiguity and begin inhabiting it with faith. What would that actually look like for you in a current season of uncertainty?

5.Freeman suggests that the fog can be a kind of gift — a space where we are forced to depend on God step by step rather than relying on a clear map. How does this connect to Israel's experience of walking through the wilderness with a pillar of cloud — present, but only visible one step at a time (Exodus 13:21-22)?

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Closing Prayer

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Father, we confess how much we hate the fog. We want clarity, maps, and certainty — and you give us a cloud to follow. Thank you that your presence goes with us into seasons where we cannot see clearly. Help us stop forcing our way to clarity when you are calling us to trust. Teach us to walk faithfully in the fog, one small step at a time, trusting that you can see what we cannot. You are not confused by our uncertainty. You are here in it. Amen.

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