By Miriam Rees
Introduction
One of the hardest questions people ask during painful seasons is this:
“If God loves me… why would He allow this?”
Why allow the heartbreak?
The illness?
The grief?
The waiting?
The disappointment?
The suffering?
If we’re honest, most of us have wrestled with those questions at some point.
Because hard seasons have a way of shaking everything we thought we understood about life, faith, and even God Himself.
And yet, throughout Scripture, we see something over and over again:
God never promised we would avoid difficult seasons.
But He did promise He would meet us in them.
Hard Seasons Are Not Proof God Has Left You
I think one of the enemy’s biggest lies is convincing people that suffering means God is absent.
But some of the people closest to God in the Bible walked through incredibly painful seasons.
Job lost almost everything.
David battled fear, grief, and betrayal.
Joseph was abandoned and imprisoned.
Paul suffered constantly.
Even Jesus experienced suffering.
Pain is not evidence that God has abandoned you.
Sometimes His presence is most deeply experienced in the middle of hardship.
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” — Psalm 34:18
Sometimes God Uses Hard Seasons to Refine Us
No one likes refinement.
Because refinement is uncomfortable.
It stretches us.
Exposes us.
Breaks pride.
Reveals weakness.
Forces us to depend on God in ways we never would have otherwise.
But refinement also produces something powerful.
“Consider it pure joy… whenever you face trials… because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” — James 1:2-3
Hard seasons often produce things easy seasons never could.
Deeper faith.
Greater compassion.
Humility.
Strength.
Wisdom.
Dependence on God.
Sometimes God Slows Us Down to Save Us
There are seasons where we become so busy surviving, performing, striving, and carrying everything on our own that we stop truly depending on God.
And sometimes hard seasons force us to slow down.
Not to punish us.
But to realign us.
To remind us that we were never meant to carry life alone.
Looking back, some of the hardest seasons of my life were also the seasons where I heard God the clearest.
Not because life became easier…
But because distractions became quieter.
We Often Want Rescue—But God Wants Relationship
Most of us pray for God to remove the pain immediately.
And sometimes He does.
But sometimes He allows the season to continue because there’s something deeper He’s trying to do within us.
Not to harm us.
But to draw us closer to Him.
“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” — James 4:8
Sometimes the very thing we wish would disappear becomes the thing that brings us into deeper intimacy with God.
Hard Seasons Reveal What We’ve Been Building On
Storms expose foundations.
When life feels stable, it’s easy to think our security comes from health, finances, relationships, routines, or control.
But hardship reveals where our true foundation is.
Jesus said:
“The rain came down, the streams rose… yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.” — Matthew 7:25
Hard seasons don’t create the foundation.
They reveal it.
God Sees the Full Picture
One of the hardest things about suffering is not understanding why.
We see the present moment.
But God sees the entire story.
We see the heartbreak.
He sees the healing that will eventually come from it.
We see the waiting.
He sees the preparation happening underneath it.
We see what feels lost.
He sees what’s still being built.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. — Isaiah 55:8
Sometimes trusting God means accepting that we won’t always understand everything this side of heaven.
Your Hard Season Is Not Wasted
This is something I’ve had to learn personally:
God wastes nothing.
Not the grief, the pain, the waiting, or even the tears we cried in the middle of it—God can use every part of our story for something greater.
Even the hardest seasons can become places where God grows compassion, wisdom, strength, testimony, and faith.
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him…” — Romans 8:28
Notice it says all things.
Not only the easy things.
Sometimes Survival Is Faith
There are seasons where faith looks strong and confident.
And then there are seasons where faith simply looks like continuing to show up.
Faith sometimes looks less like confidence and more like quietly continuing to show up—choosing to pray, trust God, take the next breath, and believe He is still good even when life feels unbearably heavy.
And honestly?
That kind of faith is powerful too.
Devotional Thought
Maybe the hard season you’re in right now feels endless.
Maybe you’re exhausted, overwhelmed, or carrying questions you still don’t have answers to. Perhaps you’ve spent a long time asking God “why” while trying to hold onto faith in the middle of it all.
But what if God is still working in ways you cannot yet see?
Not every hard season is punishment.
Sometimes the hard season is preparing you for something you cannot yet see. Other times, God may be protecting you, refining your heart, or strengthening your faith in ways that only become clear later.
And sometimes it’s the very place where you discover how faithful God truly is.
Prayer
Lord,
Help me trust You even when I don’t understand what You are doing.
When life feels heavy and uncertain, remind me that You are still present, still working, and still faithful.
Give me strength for this season and peace in the middle of the waiting.
Amen.
