hard seasons & holy purpose.

When we moved to a small town in central Louisiana in 2021, we felt certain that would be the place we watched our kids graduate. Countless hours of prayer and petitioning went into the decision. In fact, my husband prayed, “Lord, if this is what you have us stepping into next, please sell our home in 3 days.”

We had a buyer by the end of that day.

Our new town felt like “home”.

We were serving Jesus in our workplaces, in our community, and the Lord led us to start a small group ministry that turned into a beautiful community of believers doing life with each other the way Christ-followers should.

Like any season of life, it came with its own struggles.

Amongst an enormous deal of burnout, our children were also struggling in their own ways at school. Both of our sons were facing a lot of exposure to things at too young of an age, and one in particular was facing a decent amount of teasing and name-calling because of his physical stature.

As we prayed and asked the Lord what to do, He led us to consider a place we’d visited 10 years prior, when our oldest was just a baby.

I won’t go into that entire story, as it is one all of its own. However, I will say that the way the Lord allowed things to unfold in such a short amount of time gave us a great deal of peace.

Although we would be sacrificing a great deal of our own comforts, especially financially, we felt led to place our home on the market and pack our belongings…once again.

Though there was a great deal of peace in our hearts to make this move, there was also a great deal of sadness and anticipation of what to expect.

After all, we would be stepping into a community where we hardly knew anyone; our kids would be starting over at a completely new school; my husband would be stepping out of full time ministry (not being on staff at a church full-time for the first time in 13 years); and we would be selling our current home at one of the WORST, most inopportune times in history.

We truly didn’t know what to expect, but of course in our humanity we had expectations of what we thought it would look like…(spoiler alert: it has looked nothing like any of our expectations).

Again, I won’t go into all of the ways this move left us spiritually dry, confused, helpless, and questioning the Lord.

That’s one of those “you’d have to be there or hear this story in person to understand it and truly grasp the ‘You’ve GOT to be KIDDING me” aspects of it.

In a nutshell:

We walked into what felt like utter chaos all around and within.

Nothing felt stable.

Our home wouldn’t sell.

Our bank account was running completely dry.

Once our home DID sell, it was after many months and THOUSANDS of forfeited dollars later.

Troubles surrounded.

Sickness revisited us from August through December that nearly crippled us.

Circumstances at work left us weary beyond compare.

Every night was a late night getting home and a 5:00 am wake up call.

We were displaced, distraught, and honestly…depressed.

BUT GOD.

I don’t know how to explain it, because it is only from Him, but when you trust Jesus…there is always HOPE…even when you’re displaced, distraught, and depressed.

You may not FEEL hopeful, but deep within the innermost parts of your being, you know that “all things are working for the good of those who love Jesus and are called according to His purpose.”

That doesn’t mean you won’t question, be angry, or have deep sorrow…but it does mean you know the morning will come…

eventually.

In the midst of every single thing that left us feeling completely insane and even a little abandoned at times (we are human, after all), God was in the most minute details:

“though the pain may last for the night, the joy comes in the morning”.

So you keep pushing and persevering and putting one foot in front of the other.

And you realize those feet are moving one in front of the other NOT because you are making them….but because He is guiding and directing your steps even when you don’t realize it.

“A man’s heart plans his ways; but the Lord directs his steps.” Proverbs 16:9

I am not exaggerating when I say that the Lord’s hand upheld and even carried me through this last season of life on days I could not physically get out of bed. By his grace, I did. And by His grace, I endured.

At our most recent faculty meeting, our principal said something that resounded in my - and many others’ - heart:

“Don’t make rash decisions based off of one hard season.”

I really let that simmer.

How quickly do we jump to a reaction instead of a response?

I know by nature I am wired to react instead of respond; and that never really brings forth fruitful results.

Instead, my reactivity keeps me bound to my own feeble mind; it makes ME the center and keeps me from considering others.

It causes me to make rash decisions or say hurtful words that I can never fully take back.

I’ve come to realize:

We often allow hard seasons to keep us from holy purpose.

Instead of asking the Lord WHAT the purpose of the struggle is, we often just want the answer to get us OUT of the struggle.

And who can blame us? No one wants to struggle.

But there is something about being refined through the fire or sanctified through the sorrow that produces perseverance, and we know that perseverance does not disappoint:

“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”

Think about it…

who in the word of God experienced a victory without difficult seasons, thorns in the flesh, accusers, and/or mental battles of their own?

Consider Job,

David,

Moses,

Noah,

John the Baptist,

Paul,

Peter,

Stephen,

John…

just to name a few.

And of course, the One who overcame the world for us and was tempted in every way (yet knew no sin, praise God).

Thankfully, we see the Lord work through every single circumstance so that His great plan of redemption can unfold.

When sin entered the world, EVERYTHING and EVERYONE experienced the consequence.

Difficult seasons, thorns in the flesh, accusers, and mental fatigue became the norm because of our separation from God.

But God in His great mercy and love provided a way to victory.

In his grace, he made a way for us through Jesus’s sacrifice.

He knew the hard seasons would surely devour us, so He gave us His son.

We are finally seeing some of the morning after what felt like a crushing, sorrowful night.

We are catching our breath.

The light is breaking, and the valley is beginning to once again produce the lovely colors.

New life is breaking through.

And yet again, God’s faithfulness is the theme.

It always is.

Because every single hard season we’ve ever endured has always held holy purpose.

And the next one will, too.