How God Uses Hard Seasons To Shape Your Calling

Pain has a way of making God feel distant, even when you want to believe He’s close. I’m Colette Marie, and I’m speaking to the woman of faith who is tired, hurting, and quietly wondering, “What could God possibly do with this?”

I slow down and tell the truth about my own worst season after my marriage ended: the heartbreak, the loneliness, the fear about the future, and the days when I didn’t even feel like praying. Instead of skipping to a neat ending, I share how desperation became the doorway to a deeper relationship with God, and how that relationship began to heal and rebuild me from the inside out.

Romans 8:28 is the foundation, not as a slogan, but as a hard-won promise that “all things” really means all things. I also walk through Numbers 13, where the Israelites see both grapes and giants, and how we can get so focused on what stands in the way that we forget who sent us. If you’re navigating divorce recovery, chronic stress, a diagnosis, financial pressure, or a long wait for breakthrough, this is faith-based encouragement for real life.

You’ll leave with a clearer view of purpose in pain, practical ways to resist isolation, and a reminder that God doesn’t waste your story. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review so more women can find this conversation.

Transcript

Welcome And The Heart Of Purpose

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to Position for Purpose Conversations. I'm your host, Colette Marie. Our podcast is for women of faith who struggle to see God in their pain, in their hardship, and in their most challenging times. This is a gentle reminder that right where you are, yet right there, God will use you in the midst, in your hardship and in your most challenging times. In your heartache and in your pain. God has a plan for your story. Romans 8 28 states, and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, another card according to his purpose. Welcome. Not the divorce, not the loneliness, not the days when I was holding tooling to birth and wondering how I was going to make it through the next morning. All I could see was what's happening, what's going wrong. And I kept asking God, what could you possibly do with this? What could you possibly do with this, Lord? So if you have ever set um sat in that place, that place where the pain that you're feeling feels too big to be useful, then this conversation today is for you. Of course, you know, you're listening to Position for Purpose conversations with Colette Marie, and I make faith-based content for women of faith who are struggling to see God in their stories and to know that he has a plan and a purpose for their lives, according to Romans 8 28. And today I want to talk, I want to talk about the thing God does with our worst seasons. Because I have my friends, and I believe with everything in me that someone who's listening today needs a reminder, needs to hear this reminder. So you know we talk a lot about purpose, right? And I think sometimes when we hear the word purpose, we picture something that is big, something that is beautiful, something that feels unattainable, or something that is well put together, something that looks like a highlighting, you know, those wheels where we show the best of what's happening. But can I tell you something? The purpose that God has built in me, it did not come from the beautiful places, it came from the broken ones. And I know you may be able to identify with this as well. And lately I've just been sitting with this because as I look at the community of the women that have shared their stories with me, and I see it over and over again. Women who are carrying something heavy and wondering, God, why is this still happening? Or God, what are you doing? Or saying, God, where are you? So today I really want to walk you through something that I believe that God has been showing me. Not just for me, but it's also for you as well.

Divorce Desperation And Running To God

SPEAKER_00 3:10

I can recall really the season of my after my marriage ended. And when I say I remember, I mean I can still feel it today. The brokenness and the and the heartache and the pain. Not in a way that caused hurt, but almost like a memory that I do you've gotten over it. You can just, when you talk about it, you can picture like the exact moment. That's the kind of thing. So I had two young daughters that walked away from what I thought was going to be my forever. And I was sitting in a place that I never imagined I would be divorced, single, starting over, feeling like everything I had built had crumbled right in front of me. And I want to be honest with you today, my friends. Because sometimes we want to jump straight to the part where God showed up. But I want to stay in the hard part just for a moment. Because maybe, and just maybe, that's where you are right now. Can I just be real with you for a moment? There were days when I did not feel like praying. There were days when I did not feel like praying, nor did I feel like getting up. There were days when I looked at my girls and I thought, Lord, what happened? How did we get here? What's going to happen? What does the future look like? Imagine you're moving from two income to now, just one, the loneliness, the the heartbreak, just the one. Something you never envision. And so I did the only thing I knew how to do. I went to him. I went to the Lord. Not because I felt strong. Because if you know the story, it took a while for me to go to him, but I did. And it's not because I had all the right words, because trust me, I know I did not. I went to him because I had absolutely nowhere else to go. And you might have heard part of this story already. Because I know my friends could not understand, and I don't think because if you've not been there, it's easy to, you know, bring give comfort. But you'd have to understand if you're there. And so something happened in that place of desperation. Something that just looking back every time I look back at it, God did something. Not that I did not expect it, I knew he would, but just the way how he gently started to become my friend. Like I could tell him anything and everything that was happening, and knew that he understood. Because this word says that he's touched the feelings of my infirmities. And so, right there in my worst season, the relationship that would change everything began. Because a relationship with Almighty God is something that changes your heart, it changes your life, it changes your thoughts, your mindset, your actions, everything about you changes, but you would have to allow it. Relationship started building, and I can tell you God started healing. I could tell him anything and everything because I knew he understood. I knew he understood. But here is what I didn't know then. I didn't know then that the very pain I was asking God to remove, he was using it, he was using it to shape me, he was using it to build the very things he had called me to do. And so I want to ask you something. What if the season you are in right now, the one that feels like it is destroying you, what if that is the very season God is using to position you for your purpose? And I would really love to hear your response for that. When I think about this, right, I think about Romans 8.28, and you know it's my underpinning scripture. You hear it at the beginning of the podcast. And it says, I will know that all things work together for good to them that love God and are the called according to his purpose. All things, not some things, not the easy things, all things, everything. And I've had to sit with that. I remember hearing that, and I remember how it made me feel in the moment. But now later on, when I have to sit in that and truly understand what that means. It means the divorce is in there, the separation is in there, the hardship, the confusion, the days that I felt abandoned, those are in there as well. And sometimes those are the things that we want to run away from. And so I want to draw your attention to something.

Grapes And Giants In Numbers 13

SPEAKER_00 7:54

In Numbers chapter 13, God said the Israelites to go and see the promised land. And they went. And you know what they found? They found the grapes. Like those big clusters of grapes, right? They found the abundance that it was more than one of them had to carry that. But all they could focus on was the giants in the land and how they saw themselves as grasshoppers. And so, you know, they came back and they gave a bad report. They said, we saw ourselves as grasshoppers, and we believe that the giants saw us as grasshoppers too. How often do we think of ourselves like that? But hold on with me. I'm going somewhere. I'm going somewhere. Don't lose me now. When I think about it, that is how I can sometimes me. Maybe that is how you can be as well. We're so focused on what's standing in the way that we forget who sends us. Because here's what struck me that God knew that the giants were in the land. He knew you would be going through a divorce. He knew you would be going through a separation. He knew you would be out of a job. He knew the relationship challenges that you would be faced with. He knew all the obstacles. He knew the things that would make us want to turn back. And he sent them anyway. Because this is promises. God's promises are not devoid of obstacles. They never are. And so what I had to learn, what I'm still learning, right, is that the hard season is not evidence that God has forgotten. It is often evidence that God is building something, something He could only build in that place. That place of difficulty, that place of challenge, that place of hardship, that place of pain, that place of being uncomfortable. So I don't know where you are today. I don't know what your worst season looks like. Maybe it is a marriage that ended. Maybe it's a diagnosis you didn't expect. Maybe it is a dream that you feel like it is dying. And maybe you have been waiting so long for a breakthrough that you have started to wonder, God, did you forget about me? My sister, my friend. He did not forget. The same God who did not forget about me, did not forget about you, and has not forgotten about you as well. He has not forgotten the promises he made over your life. He has not forgotten the plans he laid out before you were even born. He knew at every stage what you would go through. He knew the mistakes, he knew the heartaches, he knew the seasons that would bring you to your knees. He knew them all. And here is what I want you to understand. He uses them. He does not waste them. And he does not waste where you have been. So take it from someone who has walked this journey. Yes, I have. And who is still walking this journey, who understands that when I share my story, God uses it to birth something in someone else. So you were a season, my sister, is not the end of your story. It is often the beginning of your purpose. And so don't despise where you are. Don't look at the hardship and the difficulties and think that God cannot do anything with this. Because he's the God who makes the impossible possible. He's the God who takes what was broken and makes it beautiful. And he's the God who is right there with you. Even now working everything together for your good. Whatever place you're in right now, make it count. Because in it, God is in it. He is there with you. He does not waste a single thing. And so I'm thankful that even though I have been in this hard place, this challenging time, this difficulty, that I have trusted God to be with me. And it was not easy. It was the hardest of times, the most difficult of times, to be honest. And some days I used to struggle about where God is and why did He allow it. But when He has given me opportunities to share my story now with women who are struggling with the hard place, the hardship, the place of being uncomfortable.

Fighting Isolation And The Enemy’s Voice

SPEAKER_00 12:14

I can share the real story about what it felt like in that moment. I can tell them that, listen, in that place, you're not going to want to pray at times. You want to hide yourself away from everyone else. But there comes a time when you have to run back to your heavenly father. There's a time that you will have to let others in. So don't sit in those moments of being alone for too long, of not talking to your heavenly father for too long. Because it is then that the voice of the enemy will come in and whisper louder than what God will say to you. So in those moments, it's when you have to push yourself to get into the space where God has you. It is in those moments that you'll have to push yourself and say, God, here I don't know why you've allowed this. I don't know why this is happening. But I'm coming to you, I'm yielding myself to you, and I'm asking you to have your way, Father, because you are my God. And if you've allowed this to happen, that means you have a plan and a purpose for my life. So whatever you are struggling with today, whatever the difficulties are that you're facing, it could be from financial to emotional to psychological, whatever to physical, whatever they are to spiritual, whatever you are, God has a plan for your story. Run into Him today. Allow Him to birth that thing that He has called you to. Don't be focused on the giants in the land. Because where God has called you to, He knew that there would be giants, and He has prepared you for that. He says, Come. Take your brokenness, take the hard place, and come. There is something greater on the other side of where you are. Allow me to use it for my glory and my honor. He loves you, my sister, my friend. He loves you, and he has great plans for you.

A Prayer For Strength And Healing

SPEAKER_00 14:17

Let us pray. Spirit of the living God, I want to thank you for your grace, for your goodness. Ah, Lord God, for that the fact, Lord, that you are our Father. Lord God, and that where we have been, you know. Where we are going, you also know. And in the in-between, you also know, Daddy. You know where we are struggling today. You know where my sister is. You know what burdens her heart more than anything. And Daddy, I lift her before you today. Visit her right where she is, Almighty God. Give her strength in our moments of weakness, Almighty God. Undergird her with your righteous right hand and let your presence flow over her, flow through her, and reminder that Romans 8 28 says, And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God and are the called according to his purpose. So, Lord, I want to thank you today. Thank you for your goodness. Thank you for your grace. Thank you for this awesome privilege that you've given me, Lord God, to share my story with someone else, Lord God, who doesn't understand that you will turn our worst season into our purpose. We bless you, Lord, and we tell you thanks in Jesus' name.

Share Subscribe And Farewell

SPEAKER_00 15:35

Uh, friends, see you next time on another Position for Purpose Conversations with Colette Marie. If this podcast has been a blessing to you, would you consider sharing it with someone else that you believe it will be a blessing to? Or if you have not yet subscribed, please subscribe. Uh, looking forward to seeing you next time. Bye-bye.