Bestselling Christian author Annie F. Downs spent years hoping for marriage, but she refuses to call the life before that answer a waiting room.
“This man, JW, was worth the wait. And my life was worth living,” the bestselling Christian author told “Stay True” podcast host Madison Prewett Troutt of her new husband, JW Jaeger.
“I am so glad at the timing God picked for me,” Downs added.
The conversation, released Sept. 14, wrestled with unanswered prayer, fear and the temptation to treat a good desire as the thing that will finally make life feel complete. It arrived as Downs released her new book, Don’t Let That Hold You Back: A Bold Guide to Finding the Life You’re Longing For, on Sept. 15.
Downs did not polish her long season of singleness into a neat story of perfect patience.
“I did lose hope, and I did idolize,” she said. “I sometimes feel like an idol factory, that the minute I tear down the one I’m believing, I set up the next one and go, ‘That’ll make me feel safe. That’ll make me feel loved.’”
Related: ‘Curiosity Is Welcome’ on Annie F. Downs’ New Show, I GOTTA ASK
Her answer was not to deny the desire for marriage. She encouraged listeners to name what they want honestly while refusing to postpone joy, travel, friendship or obedience until that desire arrives.
“I think that’s how you survive waiting, is you fall in love with the life that you have. You don’t deny that you want, and you call what is yet to come yet to come instead of pretending like it isn’t,” Downs said.
The episode appears to have been recorded before Downs’ recent wedding because she refers to JW Jaeger as her fiancé and says they are not yet married. Movieguide® reported this week that Downs and Jaeger have since married after preparing with prayer resources and conversations with pastors, mentors and friends.
That community piece matters to Downs’ larger message. When Troutt asked how believers can tell whether they are waiting on God or hiding behind fear, Downs said self-awareness sometimes needs another set of eyes.
“The best thing you can do for me is tell me the truth,” she said, urging listeners to ask trusted people whether they see patient faith or avoidance.
The practical challenge fits the new book’s call to stop waiting for perfect conditions. Downs’ official description names fear, finances, age, doubt and burnout among the stories that can turn an indefinite someday into never.
The 240-page WaterBrook release asks readers to identify what has kept them stuck, take an honest next step and trust God with the outcome. Downs does not promise that effort guarantees the dream; she argues that fear should not make the decision first.
Downs has carried that same candor into I GOTTA ASK, her Wonder Project series. In an earlier conversation with Movieguide®, she said faith in Jesus gave her hope in hopeless seasons, purpose in boredom and joy when the world did not feel joyful.
Her closing advice on “Stay True” was wonderfully unglamorous: try.
“You may fall on your face, but you haven’t failed,” Downs said. “I want them to run after the life that God has for them, to enjoy the decision-making along the way.”
Read Next: All the Ways This Christian Influencer Prepared for Marriage
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