Your Hardest Season Is Your Best Preparation - Encouragement for Today - May 05, 2026

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May 5, 2026

Your Hardest Season Is Your Best Preparation
TRACIE MILES

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“Until the time came to fulfill his dreams, the LORD tested Joseph’s character.” Psalm 105:19 (NLT)

There’s a season in my life I wouldn’t wish on anyone, yet I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

My marriage had fallen apart. I was drowning in debt, desperately seeking work just to keep a roof over my family's head. I was living a shattered life with a broken heart, drained in every way.

Honestly, I was angry with God. I’d been faithful and tried to do everything right — yet everything felt wrong.

I cried out, Why me? Why the crumbled relationship? Why the struggle and pain? Why is everyone else moving forward while I’m stuck in the hardest season of my life?

What I didn’t know then was that God was preparing me. He was teaching me about brokenness so I could one day share about restoration. He was walking me through valleys I never wanted to enter so I could later guide other women through theirs. He was allowing circumstances I didn't understand because He was preparing a ministry I hadn't yet imagined.

Years later, I realized God had redemption for every painful moment. The marriage struggles became chapters in a book He led me to write on healing and forgiveness. The financial crisis became a testimony of God’s provision. The seasons when I felt abandoned became the foundation for teaching others how to find God in the wilderness.

God wasn’t punishing me during those hard years. He was preparing me.

So many people in Scripture also went through hardship that God redeemed: Noah, David, Saul, and even Jesus. Psalm 105:19 also says something striking about Joseph: “Until the time came to fulfill his dreams, the LORD tested Joseph’s character.”

Notice the order: Dreams came first, testing came second, and fulfillment came last. God gave Joseph a vision of good to come — then He allowed years of prison and pain before Joseph fully stepped into his purpose. And what an amazing purpose it was: Joseph ultimately saved his family and the nation of Egypt from famine.

If you're in a hard season right now, I want to tell you what I wish someone had told me: God is not wasting this. Every struggle, every disappointment, every moment you feel like giving up, He is storing up for something greater than you can see right now.

Your story isn’t finished yet. And the chapters you’re living right now may minister to someone else down the road. Sometimes just knowing that helps us endure the hardest days.

So don’t rush the preparation. Don’t despise the process. Trust that God is doing something in the “before” that will make the “after” more powerful than you can imagine.

Dear Lord, I’m in a season I don’t understand, and honestly I’m tired. Help me trust that You haven’t forgotten me — You’re preparing me. Give me strength to keep going. Use this pain to shape me into who You're calling me to be. I don't have to understand it all right now. I just need to trust You and Your plans. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

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ENGAGE

What if the hard season you’re in right now isn’t a detour but preparation for the book God’s calling you to write? The pain you’ve walked through. The lessons you’ve learned the hard way. The moments you thought would break you, but they didn’t. That’s not just your story — that’s someone else’s breakthrough waiting to happen. Tracie created a free guide that gives you the framework for writing your story with purpose and impact: “Your Story, Their Transformation: How to Write a Book That Actually Changes Lives.” Download your free guide today by clicking here.

For more inspiration on getting through hard seasons of life, check out Tracie’s encouraging books here, and follow her on Instagram.

FOR DEEPER STUDY

Genesis 50:20, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (NIV).

Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (NIV).

What hard circumstance in your life right now might actually be God’s preparation for something you can’t see yet? When you look back at your most difficult seasons with the knowledge that God is preparing you for your calling, how does that change the way you view what you're walking through today?

We’d love to hear from you! Share your thoughts in the comments.

© 2026 by Tracie Miles. All rights reserved.

Proverbs 31 Ministries
P.O. Box 3189
Matthews, NC 28106
www.Proverbs31.org