This hard season doesn’t feel like it holds anything good right now. It just feels heavy.

But God is doing something inside it that you won’t fully see until you’re on the other side.

New Voicemail from God — 4:47 AM

I want to tell you about the gift I’m hiding inside this hard season.

The gift is who you’re becoming because of it.

– Jacqueline Whitney

I know it doesn’t feel like there’s anything gentle in this. I know you’re just trying to survive it. I know it feels like one long stretch of challenges with no peace in sight.

But there is a blessing in this season. I’ve placed it carefully. You can’t see it yet because it’s woven into the difficulty. You’ll only recognize it later, when you look back.

The gift is what this season is teaching you. The gift is who you’re becoming because of it. The gift is the strength you’re building. The discernment you’re developing. The faith that’s being formed.

The gift is the way you’re learning to trust me when you can’t see anything. The way you’re learning to rely on what you can’t prove. The way you’re discovering capacities you didn’t know you had.

One day, you’ll look back at this season and you won’t see the pain first. You’ll see the growth. You’ll see what was being built. You’ll see the gift that was hidden inside the hardship.

Don’t give up before you receive it. The gift is real. It’s just hidden in the place you didn’t think to look.

Jacqueline Whitney is the author Held: A 50 Day Devotional For Parents and All That You Deserve.