**Today’s post is written by my friend Kyle Rich. I’m grateful for his contribution and the perspective he brings. I asked him to share some thoughts on handling hard times. 

There are seasons in life that we would never have picked for ourselves.

Plans Change. Doors close. Something we hoped would continue begins to slip quietly away.

In moments like these, our first instinct is often to ask God to change the situation. We pray for relief, for clarity, for things to return to what feels stable and familiar. That desire is deeply human. Scripture shows us that God’s people have always cried out to Him in times of difficulty.

Even Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane, prayed something similar.

“And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” — Matthew 26:39 

He expressed His desire for the situation to change. Yet He also surrendered Himself to the greater purpose unfolding through it. This reminds us of a truth we often learn slowly: while we are asking God to change our circumstances, He may be using those very circumstances to grow us.

When Difficult Seasons Are Shaping Us

The Apostle Paul teaches that tribulation is not meaningless. In Romans 5:3–5 , he explains that hardship produces patience, patience produces experience, and experience produces hope. Trials, though painful, are often instruments of spiritual formation. James speaks similarly, encouraging believers to count it joy when their faith is tested because that testing leads to maturity and completeness (James 1:2–4). Growth rarely happens in the seasons we would have chosen. It often takes place in the moments that stretch us, unsettle us, and force us to depend more fully on God.

Prepared Before We Are Positioned

Joseph’s life offers a vivid picture of this process. As a young man, he received dreams from God that pointed toward leadership. Yet instead of immediate fulfillment, Joseph experienced betrayal, slavery, false accusation, and imprisonment. His circumstances seemed to move further away from God’s promises rather than closer to them. Only later could he look back and say:

 “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”

— Genesis 50:20

Joseph eventually understood that the difficult seasons had not been wasted. They were preparing him. Before he could lead others, he needed to be shaped in character, humility, endurance, and wisdom. God was not only directing events. He was forming a life.

Strength Given for the Journey

The Apostle Paul also knew what it meant to walk through a season he wished would end. He spoke of a trial he repeatedly asked the Lord to remove. Yet God’s answer was not immediate relief, but sustaining grace.

 “For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness…”

— 2 Corinthians 12:8–9

 Sometimes God grows us by changing our situation. Sometimes He grows us by strengthening us within it. Learning to depend on His grace becomes part of the shaping process.

Meeting God in the Fire

The three Hebrew men in Daniel’s day stood firm in obedience to God. Yet faithfulness did not spare them from the furnace. Instead, it became the place where God’s presence was revealed in an unforgettable way. Nebuchadnezzar looked into the flames and declared:

 “Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”

— Daniel 3:25

God did not prevent the fire. But He met them in it. Seasons we would not choose often become seasons where we know Him more deeply than before.

Growth That Spreads Beyond Us

Even the early church experienced this pattern. When persecution scattered believers from Jerusalem, it must have felt like loss and disruption. Yet Acts 8 records that those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. What seemed like the end of something familiar became the beginning of something greater. God was not abandoning His work. He was expanding it. In the same way, the growth God accomplishes in one difficult season can influence far more than we realize.

A Prayer for Growing Seasons

It is right to ask God to help in seasons we would not choose. We can pray honestly for guidance, relief, and open doors. But while we are asking Him to work around us, we must not forget to ask Him to work within us.

We can pray:

“Lord, please help in this situation.

But while You are helping, shape my heart.

Strengthen my faith.

Guard me from discouragement.

Teach me what I need to learn.”

Seasons change. Circumstances shift. What remains is the person we are becoming. If we allow Him, God will use even unwanted seasons to deepen our trust, refine our character, and prepare us for what lies ahead. And one day we may look back and realize that the very season we would never have chosen was the one that helped us grow the most.