How to Find More Treasure in the Dark Season

Published by helloredds@gmail.com on 12/09/2025 12/09/2025

How to Find More Treasure in the Dark Season.

Let’s be honest.

There are days when walking with Jesus doesn’t feel like victory songs and mountaintops. It feels like dragging your feet through gravel with lungs that can’t quite catch a full breath.

Faith isn’t shiny in those moments; it’s survival. It’s clinging to God with trembling hands and whispering, “Don’t let go of me.”

If that’s where you are, you’re not alone. Scripture doesn’t hide the raw parts.

David wrote psalms with more tears than triumph. Elijah begged God to take his life after calling down fire from heaven. Paul confessed he was “utterly burdened beyond strength.”

Faith has never been about pretending the ache isn’t real; it’s about daring to believe God is still in it.

Hope That’s Born in the Dark

We usually imagine hope as light, but most often, it’s born in the dark. Think of Joseph in the prison, Paul in chains, and Mary at the tomb. Hope isn’t the absence of despair; it’s the defiance of it. It’s looking at the silence and saying, “Even here, God is not finished.”

I’ll never forget reading Isaiah 45:3 (ESV) for the first time: “I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name.”

That verse turned my perspective upside down. Darkness isn’t just something we survive; it’s often the very place where God plants treasures we would never find in the light.

Purpose That Isn’t Pretty

We love the idea of purpose when it looks polished: big platforms, clear direction, and the obvious fruit of success.

But God doesn’t measure purpose the way we do. Sometimes His purpose is wrapped in obscurity and hidden obedience. Moses spent forty years in the wilderness before he ever saw a burning bush. Jesus lived in near silence for thirty years before the beginning of His ministry. Purpose often feels invisible long before it becomes undeniable.

I’ve learned that purpose is less about doing something impressive for God and more about letting God shape me into someone who looks like Him. Some days, that means speaking truth. Other days, it means holding my tongue. Sometimes it means leading boldly. Sometimes it means being content in the background.

Maybe you’ve wrestled with that too, the kind of purpose that doesn’t look “big,” but is sacred all the same. Where have you seen God redefine what purpose looks like for you?

Strength That Doesn’t Come From You

I used to think faith meant being strong, but the longer I walk with Jesus, the more I realize strength is a borrowed thing. Left to myself, I collapse. But when His Spirit breathes into weakness, what rises isn’t mine—it’s His.

Paul heard it firsthand when God told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9, ESV). That verse doesn’t mean God patches up our cracks; it means He pours glory through them. The very thing we try to hide, our brokenness, becomes the place He shows up strongest.

Have you noticed that? The place you swore would break you turned into the place where you finally saw God carry you? That’s not a coincidence. That’s grace.

Why Your Story Matters

It’s easy to dismiss our own stories.

Maybe you think yours is too messy, too small, too unfinished to encourage anyone else. But here’s the secret: testimony isn’t about having a polished ending, it’s about pointing to the God who’s still writing.

Revelation 12:11 says we overcome “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony.” Your words, yes, yours, carry power. They may be exactly what someone else needs to hear when they’re on the edge of giving up. Don’t underestimate the weight of your story. It doesn’t need to be spectacular. It just needs to be real.

I find hope in knowing God names me by my future, not by my failures. I find purpose in believing that nothing in my life is wasted—not a wound, not a delay, not a detour. And I find the strength to keep going in the paradox of weakness; that when I fall apart, His power is holding me together.

What gives you hope, purpose, and the wherewithal to keep going with Jesus?

Your story might be the very spark someone else needs to find light again.

About the Author: Dr. Gladys Childs

Dr. Gladys Childs hosts the TV show Bare Faith, where raw faith and deep pain meet a relentless God.

Known as the “Truth Doctor,” she names the lies standing between people and God’s truth.

A pastor’s wife, author, speaker, former religion professor, and boy mom, Gladys, speaks with authority, heart, and real-life grit.

Connect with Dr. Gladys Childs

Learn more at gladyschilds.com.

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