Praying through a Dark Season

“‘Everything is possible for one who believes.’ Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!’” (Mark 9:23-24 NIV).

A friend recently texted and asked me to join her in praying for a miracle. She sent me a list with specific dates and a few details. As each day on the calendar arrived, we messaged to touch base. I prayed expectantly, hopefully, anxiously, and tearfully as the weeks passed.

Many times, a message with an update would leave me speechless. Disappointment is never easy to respond to in a text, and then we would learn a few days later that hope was still on the horizon. As I cried out for my sweet friend, my prayers continued to come back to a few sentences: “God, she needs to see you show up here.” “She needs to see you create beauty from ashes.” “God, she needs a miracle.” “God, please!”

The more I prayed, the more I realized that where I was praying “she” in the depths of my heart I was whispering “I.” The truth is that I also longed to see a miracle. I wanted to see God create beauty from ashes.

Dark seasons weigh heavily on us. In the Bible, we learn about the lives of Joseph, Naomi, Ruth, and Job, just to name a few, who all go through long, hard times. We also see God show up in their lives and move in amazing ways. Joseph, for example, acknowledges that his years of slavery in Egypt were for a greater purpose.

Genesis 45:4-7 says, “Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Come close to me.’ When they had done so, he said, ‘I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years, there will be no plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance’” (NIV).

Joseph understood the bigger picture. Enabling his brothers to acquire food during a famine he helped Egypt prepare for helps confirm that his dark season had a larger purpose. And while this doesn’t take away all of Joseph’s pain, he pushes past the hard and focuses on the good.

There is comfort in knowing the end of the story. But God desires for us to walk with him through every step of our lives, including the hard seasons. Joseph is one of many people in Scripture who chose to look to God when life was hard and confusing. He chose to trust that God was by his side when he was sold into slavery, falsely accused of making sexual advances to his boss’ wife (Genesis 39), thrown in jail, and forgotten by the king’s cupbearer (Genesis 40).

Joseph chose to trust that God was actively moving even when it looked like all was lost, and that is what my friend and I chose to do with our prayers as we asked for a miracle.

At one point, while we waited to see how God would respond in this season, I said, “This is the worst rollercoaster ride ever.” I told my friend how much I admired her perseverance. I knew she was bolstered by her prayers, but I was wavering and allowing my emotions to guide my prayers. Some days I felt so desperate for a response, I wanted to throw objects just to see them break.

Instead, I would send a message: “Checking in.” Within minutes I would receive my next assignment: “Here is how I need you to pray right now.”

Asking for a miracle is hard when it seems like God is silent. But when it is broken into smaller parts and taken one day at a time, it becomes less overwhelming.

Joseph waited on God for years to release him from slavery. He must have prayed daily for God to somehow reunite him with his father. He also took every opportunity he had to remind other people that God was with him and answering his prayers. Strength of faith is a lifelong discipline. I confess that while I am inspired by the story of Joseph, my reality is more like the father who cries out in Mark 9, “I believe, help my unbelief.” Thankfully, God created our emotions. He understands and has given us tools we can lean on when we need to boost our faith.

• First, we can take a cue from my friend and ask a sister in Christ to join us in prayer. Matthew 18:19-20 says, “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them” (NIV).
• Second, we can ask the Holy Spirit to remind us of Jesus’s teachings as promised in John 14:26.
• Third, we can use the Book of Psalms as our guide. Psalm 4 begins, “Answer me when I call to you, my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress; have mercy on me and hear my prayer.”

Psalm 5 begins, “Listen to my words, Lord, consider my lament. Hear my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray” (NIV). We can take comfort in praying David’s words when we are at a loss to find our own.

Are you in a dark season? Are you praying for a miracle? I want to encourage you to reach out and ask someone to pray with you. Choose someone who will remind you to talk to God even when it seems like he isn’t responding as quickly as you want. If you start to lose hope, follow the example of Joseph. Tell other people about the times you see God moving, and keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Beth Walker is a football coach’s wife and mom of two energetic boys. She strives to encourage those around her to pursue their best lives in Jesus whether she is near the game field, in church, or at the local coffee shop. As a writer, Beth has been striving to find her voice through seeing Jesus in the ordinary and extraordinary of daily life. She blogs at Lessons from the Sidelines.

Photograph © Rosie Fraser, used with permission