In a culture obsessed with instant gratification, author and speaker DawnCheré Wilkerson is challenging believers to redefine waiting not as punishment but as a holy invitation to grow in the presence of God.
“We think waiting is a curse,” Wilkerson, who leads VOUS Church in Miami alongside her husband, Rich, told The Christian Post. “But once you get that thing — whether it’s the job, the spouse, the baby — you just move the goalposts and start waiting for something else. Waiting isn’t a season. Waiting is life.”
In her new book,Slow Burn: The Work and Wonder of the Wait,releasing April 29, Wilkerson draws from years of pastoral experience and her own long season of infertility to lay out a case for why embracing the slow burn of surrender is the only way to live a life rooted in faith.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know.
She described the book as a product of four decades of life and over a decade of spiritual wrestling. “The message God put on my heart for this book came more than 10 years ago,” she said. “But it wasn’t the right time. I can look back now and see that He was writing the story.”
One of the most vulnerable threads in the book is Wilkerson’s eight-year journey through infertility, a struggle she initially kept private, even from her parents.
“It was a very personal journey,” she said. “And I discovered in the wait that it’s the temptation for all of us to isolate and think we can just handle it on our own.”
But in that isolation, she learned something life-altering: community is essential. “God didn’t just save me to have a relationship with Him. He placed me in a family. A family that can pray with me when there’s a need, and celebrate with me when God comes through.”
In Slow Burn, Wilkerson contends that surrender is not a one-time event but a daily offering.
“Surrender is the daily invitation from Heaven,” she said. “It’s a stance of our heart, a deep belief that we still want God’s plan more than our plan.”
To illustrate this, Wilkerson draws from Exodus, describing the morning and evening offerings of incense as a metaphor for what it means to live a surrendered life.
“As they put it on that heat source, the incense changed; it became a sweet aroma,” she explained. “Surrender to me looks like bringing my little, just like those grains, and trusting God with it.”
“In a culture that’s very fast-paced, where as soon as you think it, you say it, we’re missing out on the joy of the wrestle,” she added. “God tells stories over a lifetime.”
After years of praying for children, the Wilkersons welcomed their first child, Wyatt, born in 2018, followed by Wilde, born in 2019, Waylon, born in 2021, and in December 2024, Wolfgang.
“It’s an amazing, wonderful season,” she said. “I’m loving it.”
Though her prayers were answered after years of waiting, Wilkerson acknowledged that the story doesn’t always unfold that way. She doesn’t shy away from that question; in fact, it’s one of the book’s core themes.
“So many people are waiting and wondering: What if God doesn’t answer my prayer?” she said. “But the bait we hold on to today is an eternal hope. Hebrews tells us that our forefathers died still living in faith, having not seen everything that was promised. But they greeted their inheritance from afar.”
For Wilkerson, that image of greeting her inheritance from a distance has become a source of comfort. “I can wave to the promise,” she said. “There won’t be any more pain. And I hold on to that promise.”
The author added that her understanding of hope produced sanctification, what she described as the slow, sacred process of having her fears peeled back, layer by layer.
“In those eight years of waiting, I feared being labeled ‘infertility girl,’ I feared being overlooked,” she says. “But I came to a beautiful place where I realized that perfect love casts out fear. And there’s only One who holds perfect love and that’s Jesus.”
Wilkerson offered encouragement to those who’ve walked through miscarriage, stillbirth or the heartbreak of an unfulfilled longing.
“I would encourage anyone going through loss to not isolate,” she said. “It’s not about the words that are said but about having people who love you stand with you.”
She recalled her time in Israel, where she learned that Jesus’ Words — “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” — were not just about divine consolation but about communal support.
“You’re blessed when you’re part of the community of God,” she says. “Because even in your deepest, darkest pain, you will receive comfort from those around you.”
At VOUS Church, Wilkerson said the community has sought to foster a culture where conversations around grief and miscarriage are open and healing.
“It brings freedom to women as they grieve, to know they don’t have to fast-forward through their pain,” she says. “They can be honest with God and with others.”
With Slow Burn, Wilkerson said she wants to offer a lifeline to others walking through long, difficult waits. “I hope it speaks to their soul,” she emphasized. “I hope it establishes the faithfulness of God through His Word and my personal testimony.”
Ultimately, she hopes the book becomes something readers will pass on. “When I find something good, I want to share it,” she said. “I hope this lifts people’s hearts in a real way. I hope they encounter the love of God in a supernatural way as they read it. That’s my prayer.”
Leah M. Klett is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: leah.klett@christianpost.com
