Have you ever wondered why YOU are going through what you’re going through? Not wondered why hardship is happening, but why is it happening to YOU specifically?

In seasons of turmoil, it’s important that you not only get a heavenly perspective on your circumstance but that you also get a heavenly perspective on you. It’s unlikely that God randomly selected you to go through what you’re going through. The hardship, setback, or uncertainty that you may find yourself in, is there – at least in part –  to give, develop, or show you something, not just about God, but about you.

Some trials are there for God to give you something. David faces Goliath in part, to set the stage for David to become King. God put him through it to give him a platform. If you’re in a tough season, look for what it is that God is trying to give you in the midst of it.

For all of us, if we’ll be wise enough to discipline ourselves in the midst of our hardship, that dark season can actually be a development season. The fruits of the Spirit are not revealed in times of bliss, but rather blossom in times of toil. Do you want patience? God may keep you in a situation longer than you’d like to be. Do you want joy? Paul testifies about LEARNING how to be joyful through trials from a jail cell. Do you want peace? The disciples realized that peace is found in the person of Jesus, in the middle of a storm! Be careful what you wish (pray) for.

Or maybe for you, this season is designed for you to realize your calling. God calls Moses, who is a stutterer, to speak. God calls Joseph, the youngest brother, to lead the family. God calls Esther, an orphan and ethnic outcast, to save a nation and serve as queen. Perhaps this season isn’t designed to kill you, but to reveal you.

I’ve learned there’s no need for others knowing who you are if you don’t know who you are. Not for your fame or notoriety or even self-esteem, but so that you would stand firm, uncompromising in your pursuit of the renown of the glory of God. People who don’t know who they are are subject to not knowing what they should do or how they should live. But people who have come to realize that they truly are more than conquerors, are not easily swayed.

Don’t just come out of this pandemic with a clearer understanding of who God is or the purpose of the pain, come out with a stronger sense of who God has uniquely made you to be.

(You can learn to love the process.)

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1. What’s something about you you want to look different on the other side of this pandemic?
2. Has your aim in the past been to grow during hard seasons, or just survive hard seasons?
3. In Judges 6:11-18 – God calls a guy named Gideon a mighty warrior, but Gideon doesn’t see himself that way. So God sends him into a battle with the odds against him, but God with him and he is victorious. What stood out to you from God’s initial talk with Gideon in that passage?
4. What’s a harder battle for you, pride or confidence, and how do you let scripture instruct you in that battle?
5. What’s something you’ve seen someone else in your family group grow in in this season, that you could encourage them in?