‘Good success’ is never a product of luck but a result of observing, doing, and making/building (Joshua 1:8). Just as no house is built from the roof, but from the foundation up, the height of any structure is determined by the depth of its foundation. Consider the One World Trade Centre—the tallest building in the United States, the tallest in the Western Hemisphere, and the seventh-tallest in the world. Its foundation took two years to construct, reinforced by 400 concrete piles, each extending approximately 100 feet deep. The same principle applies to life and success—the deeper the foundation, the greater the heights one can reach.

When the foundation of a building is under construction, it's often unseen and unnoticed, just like the initial stages of a seed’s growth. The roots form and grow underground before the sprout ever emerges. It’s the sprouting that catches the eye, but we often forget the silent, unseen work that preceded it.

Like many others, I first came across the gospel artist Ayobami Alli-Hakeem, popularly known as Anendlessocean, after his music began to gain wider recognition. Yet his journey did not begin with the breakthrough many eventually saw. He had been making and releasing music for years, including Falala in 2018, long before his work reached a much broader audience in 2022. Today, his songs are on the lips of thousands of Christians, but the visibility came after years of labour that largely went unseen.

What many call an “overnight success” is often the public unveiling of years of preparation, consistency, sacrifice, and quiet work. Sometimes, the process may take even longer. Moses spent forty years in the wilderness before the season of his public assignment arrived.

So continue therein. Keep building. Keep serving. Keep strengthening what no one can yet see. The years of obscurity are not necessarily wasted years; they may be the very years in which God is forming the substance required to sustain the glory that is coming. In due season, both the glory and the substance will speak.

Consider the bamboo also: in its early stages, much of its most important development takes place beneath the surface, as its root system becomes firmly established. Yet, once established, some bamboo species are capable of astonishing bursts of growth—reportedly reaching as much as 91 centimetres (35 inches) in a single day.

Perhaps you have already seen a measure of glory, but it is nothing compared with what may yet lie ahead. Rather than becoming preoccupied with whether what God has spoken appears feasible, remain committed to doing what He has committed into your hands. As Bishop David Oyedepo often says, “We just keep doing what He says, and He just keeps blessing us.”

There is always a growth that precedes what can be seen. Long before the height becomes evident, the roots are being strengthened beneath the surface. So keep building, keep obeying, and keep reinforcing the roots. What appears to be a season of little visible progress may, in fact, be preparation for extraordinary emergence.

“They rush upon the city; they run along the wall. They climb into the houses; like thieves they enter through the windows” – Joel 2:9. This army has gained speed because they have stayed (Isa. 40:31). They didn’t start with a ‘rush upon the city’ or ‘like thieves they enter through the windows’; they started as ordinary men, unsure of their strength, uncertain about their appointed time. Which is why I agree with Mark Zuckerberg when he said, “There’s no such thing as a single eureka moment”. Life is in phases.