Life has a way of swinging between two extremes: the beautiful and the brutal.
Some seasons are so good you can barely believe they’re real. Joy flows freely. Peace settles deep. Everything feels aligned, blessed, purposeful.
And then there are the other seasons—the ones that shake you to your core. The ones that strip you down to nothing and force you to face truths you’ve been avoiding. The ones that hurt so deeply you wonder if you’ll ever feel whole again.
Here’s what I’ve learned after walking through both:
If it’s good, it’s beautiful. If it’s bad, there’s a lesson.
When a situation is unfavorable, it presents a learning opportunity. It is a catalyst for growth. It’s not just random suffering—it’s purposeful refining.
When things are good, embrace the joy. Dwell by the river of peace. Cherish every moment of it until it returns again.
Every moment of your life is either to be enjoyed or to be learned from.
And the hardest lessons? The ones that go down to the inner core of your soul?
I call them the holy moments.
The Holy Moments: When Pain Becomes Sacred
Not all lessons feel holy when you’re in them.
In fact, most of them feel devastated. Like betrayal. Like punishment. Like God has forgotten your name.
But here’s the truth I’ve discovered through tears, through heartbreak, through seasons that nearly broke me:
The lessons that reach your inner core—the ones that strip away everything you thought you knew about yourself, about God, about life—those are the holy moments.
Why Are They Holy?
Because in those moments:
- You meet God in ways you never could in comfort
- You discover strength you didn’t know you had
- You shed false versions of yourself and find who you really are
- You learn what actually matters and what was just noise
- You become someone who can hold pain without being destroyed by it
The holy moments are holy not because they feel good, but because they change you at a level nothing else can reach.
They’re the moments when God isn’t just teaching you a lesson—He’s rebuilding you from the inside out.
When It’s Good: Embrace the Beautiful
Let’s start with the beautiful seasons, because we need to learn how to receive them well.
The River of Peace
There will be seasons when life feels like you’re sitting by a river of peace. The water is calm. The air is warm. Everything feels right.
Don’t waste those moments waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Don’t let fear of future pain steal your present joy.
How to Embrace the Good:
1. Be Fully Present
Don’t live in the past (remembering when things were hard) or the future (worrying when things will get hard again).
Be here. Now. In this beautiful moment.
Notice the details. Feel the joy. Absorb the peace. Let it soak into your bones.
2. Give Thanks
Gratitude isn’t just polite—it’s protective.
When you actively thank God for the good, you anchor yourself in His faithfulness. You create a memory your soul can return to when the hard seasons come.
Say it out loud: “This is good. This is a gift. Thank You, God.”
3. Don’t Feel Guilty for the Joy
Some of us sabotage our own peace because we feel guilty for being happy when others are suffering.
But joy is not a limited resource. Your happiness doesn’t take away from someone else’s pain.
Receive the good without guilt. God gave it to you. Enjoy it.
4. Store It Up
The river of peace won’t flow forever—not because God is mean, but because stagnant water becomes toxic. We need seasons of growth, and growth requires challenge.
So when you’re in the good season, store it up.
Let the peace fill your reserves. Let the joy strengthen your foundation. Let the beauty remind you what you’re fighting for when the battle comes.
Because the river will return. It always does.
When It’s Bad: Find the Lesson
Now let’s talk about the hard seasons—the ones that feel unfavorable, unfair, unbearable.
When life goes wrong, your first instinct might be to resist it, fight it, numb it, or escape it.
But what if, instead, you leaned into it and asked: “What is this here to teach me?”
The Catalyst for Growth
An unfavorable situation is a catalyst for growth.
- A betrayal teaches you who you can trust and who you can’t.
- A loss teaches you what truly matters.
- A failure teaches you resilience.
- A rejection teaches you that your worth isn’t determined by acceptance.
- A season of loneliness teaches you to find God when everyone else is gone.
The bad isn’t just bad. It’s the curriculum for your transformation.
How to Learn from the Hard Seasons:
1. Stop Asking “Why Me?” Start Asking “What Now?”
“Why me?” keeps you stuck in victimhood.
“What now?” moves you toward purpose.
You can’t always control what happens to you, but you can always control what you do with it.
2. Get Still and Listen
God speaks loudest in the wilderness.
When life strips away all the distractions, all the noise, all the comfort—that’s when you can finally hear Him clearly.
Sit in the silence. Ask: “What are You trying to teach me here?”
And then listen. Really listen.
3. Don’t Rush the Process
You can’t microwave a transformation.
Some lessons take months. Some take years. Some take a lifetime.
Stop trying to rush through the hard season just to get to the good one.
The lesson is IN the process. If you rush it, you’ll miss it—and you’ll have to repeat it.
4. Write It Down
When you’re in the middle of a hard season, write down what you’re learning.
Because when you get to the other side, your brain will try to minimize the pain and forget the lesson.
Document the holy moments. You’ll need them later.
The Holy Moments: When the Lesson Reaches Your Soul
Now let’s talk about the deepest kind of lesson—the holy moments.
These aren’t surface-level lessons like “don’t trust that person again” or “save more money.”
The holy moments are the lessons that reach the inner core of your soul.
They’re the ones that:
- Shatter your illusions about who you thought you were
- Force you to face the parts of yourself you’ve been avoiding
- Strip away everything you thought defined you
- Break open your heart so God can heal what’s been buried
- Reveal the lies you’ve believed about God, yourself, or life
Examples of Holy Moments:
- The betrayal that made you realize you’ve been seeking validation from people instead of from God
- The loss that taught you everything you were clinging to was temporary
- The failure that revealed you were building your identity on achievement instead of on Christ
- The illness that forced you to stop performing and just be
- The season of silence when God felt absent—teaching you to trust Him even when you can’t feel Him
- The rock bottom moment when you finally surrendered control
These moments hurt. Deeply.
They go down to your innermost core. They shake the very foundation of who you are.
But they are holy because they are where God does His deepest work.
Why the Hardest Lessons Are the Holiest
1. They Strip Away What Isn’t Real
God isn’t interested in preserving the false version of you—the one you constructed to protect yourself, to please others, to hide your pain.
The holy moments strip away the mask.
They burn away everything that isn’t authentic, everything that isn’t rooted in truth, everything that isn’t built on Him.
What’s left is the real you. And that’s who God wants to work with.
2. They Reveal What You’re Really Built On
When the storm hits, you find out what foundation you’ve been standing on.
If you’ve built your identity on success, the storm of failure will destroy you.
If you’ve built your worth on relationships, the storm of rejection will shatter you.
If you’ve built your security on money, the storm of loss will devastate you.
But if you’ve built your life on God, the storm will shake you—but it won’t break you.
The holy moments reveal where you’ve been building on sand so you can start building on rock.
3. They Force You to Let Go
We hold on so tightly to things that were never meant to last.
People. Positions. Possessions. Plans.
The holy moments pry your fingers open.
Not because God is cruel, but because He’s making room for something better.
And sometimes the only way to receive what God has for you is to release what you’re clinging to.
4. They Create Capacity for Deeper Intimacy with God
You can’t know God as Healer until you’ve been broken.
You can’t know Him as Provider until you’ve been in need.
You can’t know Him as Comforter until you’ve grieved.
You can’t know Him as Deliverer until you’ve been trapped.
The holy moments introduce you to parts of God you could never know in the good seasons.
And once you’ve met Him there—in the depths, in the darkness, in the desperation—your relationship with Him will never be shallow again.
How to Recognize a Holy Moment
Not every hard season is a holy moment. Sometimes things are just hard.
But here’s how you know when you’re in a holy moment:
1. It Touches Your Core
Surface-level problems annoy you. Core-level problems transform you.
If the lesson is reaching the deepest part of who you are, it’s holy.
2. You Can’t Fix It with Logic
Holy moments can’t be solved with a checklist or a strategy.
They require surrender, not solutions.
3. God Feels Both Absent and Intimately Close
This is the paradox of holy moments.
You might not feel God’s presence the way you’re used to, but somehow, you know He’s closer than He’s ever been.
4. You’re Being Undone to Be Remade
If you feel like you’re falling apart, you might not be falling apart—you might be being taken apart so God can put you back together the right way.
5. The Lesson Goes Deeper Than the Situation
The situation might be about a job loss, but the lesson is about identity.
The situation might be about a breakup, but the lesson is about worth.
The situation might be about a health crisis, but the lesson is about control.
When the lesson is more profound than the surface problem, it’s holy.
What to Do in the Holy Moments
1. Don’t Run
Your instinct will be to numb, escape, distract, or rush through it.
Don’t.
The holy moments require your full attention. If you run from them, you’ll miss what God is trying to give you.
2. Surrender
You can’t control your way through a holy moment.
Let go. Stop fighting. Surrender to the process.
Say out loud: “God, I don’t understand this, but I trust You. Do what You need to do in me.”
3. Stay Tender
The temptation will be to harden your heart to avoid more pain.
Don’t.
The holy moments require a soft heart. Stay open. Stay vulnerable. Let God reach the deepest parts of you.
4. Worship in the Wilderness
Don’t wait until you understand to worship.
Don’t wait until it feels good to praise Him.
Worship Him in the holy moment—not because it makes sense, but because He’s still God even when life doesn’t make sense.
5. Trust the Timing
Holy moments don’t come with timelines.
God isn’t in a hurry. He’s thorough.
Trust that He’s working, even when you can’t see it. Trust that this season has a purpose, even when it feels pointless.
The Beautiful Truth About Holy Moments
Here’s what I’ve learned after walking through multiple holy moments:
The lessons that hurt the most are the ones that heal you the deepest.
The seasons that stripped me down to nothing were the seasons that rebuilt me into something more substantial, more authentic, more rooted in God than I ever was before.
I wouldn’t trade those holy moments for anything.
Not because they felt good—they didn’t.
But because they made me who I am today.
They taught me:
- God is faithful even when life isn’t fair
- My worth isn’t tied to my circumstances
- I’m stronger than I thought I was
- I can survive what I thought would destroy me
- God is close even when He feels far
- Pain has purpose, even when I can’t see it yet
Those lessons went down to the inner core of my soul. And they changed everything.
Every Moment Is Either to Be Enjoyed or Learned From
So here’s the practice I want you to adopt:
Stop labeling your life as “good” or “bad.” Start labeling it as “beautiful” or “instructive.”
When Life Is Good:
Enjoy it.
Don’t waste it worrying about when it will end. Don’t sabotage it with guilt. Don’t rush through it.
Dwell by the river of peace. Soak in the beauty. Let joy fill your soul.
This season is a gift. Receive it fully.
When Life Is Hard:
Learn from it.
Don’t just survive it. Don’t just white-knuckle your way through. Don’t numb it or run from it.
Lean in. Ask the hard questions. Let God do the deep work.
This season is purposeful. Extract the lesson.
When Life Reaches Your Core:
Recognize the holiness.
These aren’t just hard seasons—these are the moments when God is doing His most crucial work in you.
Don’t resist them. Don’t resent them.
Honor them. These are the moments that will define who you become.
A Prayer for the Holy Moments
Father,
I’m in a season I didn’t ask for. It’s hard. It’s painful. It’s reaching places in me I didn’t even know existed.
But I’m choosing to believe this is a holy moment. I’m choosing to believe You’re not punishing me—You’re refining me.
Give me the courage not to run. Give me the strength to stay tender. Give me the wisdom to learn what You’re teaching.
When this feels unbearable, remind me that You’ve set the limits. Remind me that this won’t break me. Remind me that You’re closer than I think.
Strip away what isn’t real. Reveal where I’ve been building on sand. Pry open my fingers from what I need to release. Introduce me to parts of You I’ve never known.
I don’t understand this season, but I trust You in it.
Do Your work, Father. Go as deep as You need to go. I’m staying. I’m listening. I’m surrendering.
And when the river of peace returns—and I believe it will—I’ll remember what You taught me here. I’ll remember the holy moment.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
Final Thought: Choose Your Perspective
Life will give you both the beautiful and the brutal.
You don’t get to choose which season you’re in. But you do get to decide how you respond.
Will you enjoy the good while it lasts?
Will you learn from the bad when it comes?
Will you recognize the holy moments and let them transform you?
Every moment is a gift—either to be enjoyed or to be learned from.
Don’t waste the beautiful by worrying.
Don’t waste the brutal by resisting.
Embrace them both. They’re both making you who you’re meant to be.
Connect With Us
If this message spoke to your heart, I’d love to stay connected with you on this journey.
Follow Life on Earth Ministries:
📘 Facebook: LifeOnEarthMinistries
Stay connected with our community and get daily inspiration.
Instagram: @lifeonearthministries
👭 Facebook Group: Bible Chicks
This is where authentic women gather to study God’s Word together—no pretense, no judgment, just genuine faith. And here’s the beautiful part: you can invite anyone! Know a woman who needs community, encouragement, or a safe place to grow in her faith? Invite her to join us.
To join Bible Chicks or invite a friend, have them fill out the form at:
www.duarte.coach/bc
We meet via Zoom for Bible study, prayer, and genuine conversation every Saturday at 8:00am. Come as you are. Bring a friend. Let’s walk through the beautiful and the brutal seasons together.
You’re not meant to do life alone. Join us.
If you are part of Bible Chicks, invite anyone you feel would want to be part of our community.
Life on Earth Ministries
#HolyMoments #BeautifulOrInstructive #LifeLessons #SpiritualGrowth #FindingPurposeInPain #RiverOfPeace #Transformation #BibleChicks #LifeOnEarthMinistries #ChristianCommunity
Leave a Reply