I was reflecting on the last six months of my life with a friend yesterday. It was a season characterized by deadlines and busyness while emotionally dealing with being cheated, rejected, and disappointed by various people who I trusted and honored.

But this morning, this verse spoke to me:

“And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭5:3-5‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

So on the other side of a difficult season, I must ask, did I develop perseverance? Can I point to my character strengthening? Do I have hope? Was the love of God poured out in my heart?

The answer to all of the above is a resounding YES!

When I look back on this season, I can see where I learned to fight for what I believe, persevere to love when I wanted to give up on people. I learn to honor others when I wanted to tell all their secrets. I learned to love and respect my flawed heroes. I learn to accept people where they are.

To sum it up, in this season, I learned to love more genuinely. And the only way to do that was to dig deeper into God’s love for me.

So friends, if you are going through a difficult season, take heart. God will not waste your pain. He is in the middle of your pain, your heartache. He is removing the impurities and this trial is refining you. You are coming out stronger and ready for your next assignment.

When you reflect back on this season, if you only tell what the enemy did, you missed the point entirely. Tell your story. But the highlight reel should be more about the grace poured into your heat than what the enemy meant for bad.

“God was faithful in the midst of my pain. He was teaching me while he sustained me. He poured His Love into my heart when I felt like giving up. He gave me eyes to see as He sees.” That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.