I want to hear from you! Text me here. Finding God in the Valley — When Your Body Is Fighting and Your Heart Is Tired What happens when you know God is real, but you can't seem to recognize where He is in the middle of your pain? What happens when you've prayed, waited, trusted, and still find yourself asking: "God, where are You?" In Parts 3 and 4 of Recognizing God at Work: Learning to See His Hand in Your Everyday Life, we move from understanding that God is always working to the very personal question of how we recognize His presence when life becomes painful, confusing, and exhausting. And this part of the conversation gets real. Over the last month and a half, I've walked through a particularly difficult season with migraines that were kicking my butt, POTS that was throwing me for a loop, and days when I honestly felt lost, alone, exhausted, and spiritually discouraged. There were moments when I wasn't questioning whether God existed. I was questioning where He was in the middle of what I was experiencing. Maybe you've been there too. Maybe your struggle isn't chronic illness. Maybe you're walking through grief, anxiety, disappointment, financial pressure, relationship struggles, unanswered prayer, or a season of spiritual dryness. Whatever your valley looks like, pain has a way of narrowing our vision. When we're hurting, it's easy to see the problem and miss the Provider. It's easy to see the storm and miss the One walking with us through it. It's easy to interpret God's silence as His absence. But what if God has been there all along? Finding God When Your Circumstances Haven't Changed In this portion of the episode, we'll explore why recognizing God's work doesn't always mean watching Him immediately change our circumstances. Sometimes God's work looks like healing. Sometimes it looks like endurance. Sometimes it looks like provision. Sometimes it looks like protection. Sometimes it looks like conviction and correction. And sometimes it looks like grace sufficient for one more day. We'll look at Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 12:9, where God tells him: "My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness." That's a difficult truth to sit with when you're hurting. Because we often want God to remove the weakness. We want the answer. We want the breakthrough. We want the storm to stop. But Scripture reminds us that God's presence and power aren't limited to the moments when everything goes according to our plans. God can be working in the valley just as powerfully as He's working on the mountaintop. Training Our Eyes to See God's Fingerprints Part 4 takes the conversation a step further. If God really is working all around us, how do we learn to recognize Him? We'll talk about developing spiritual awareness and learning to look beyond the extraordinary for evidence of God's activity in the ordinary. What if the text message that came at exactly the right moment was more than coincidence? What if the closed door you've been frustrated about was actually protection? What if the Scripture that suddenly spoke directly to your circumstances was God's way of reminding you of His truth? What if the strength you found on the day you thought you couldn't take another step was evidence of His sustaining grace? What if the peace you experienced in the middle of chaos wasn't because your circumstances suddenly became peaceful—but because God was present in the middle of them? We'll also explore why our attention matters. Our world is loud. News. Social media. Stress. Responsibilities. Opinions. Fear. Comparison. Distraction. Sometimes we aren't struggling because God stopped working. We're struggling because we've become so distracted that we've stopped looking. And that's why one of the practical challenges from this episode is simple: "Where did I see God today?" Not where was life perfect. Not where did everything go according to plan. Not where did I get everything I wanted. Simply: Where did I see God? Because when you begin looking for His fingerprints, you may discover that He's been present in far more moments than you realized. When God Doesn't Show Up the Way We Expected We'll also begin exploring one of the biggest barriers to recognizing God: our expectations. We often have an idea of what God's answer should look like. But Scripture repeatedly shows us that God doesn't always work according to our expectations. We'll look at biblical examples including Naaman, Elijah, Martha and Mary, Lazarus, and John the Baptist and consider what their stories teach us about recognizing God when His timing, methods, and answers don't look the way we anticipated. Because sometimes we interpret delay as absence. Sometimes we interpret silence as abandonment. Sometimes we interpret a closed door as rejection. But what if we're seeing only one piece of a much larger story? The goal isn't to pretend that suffering doesn't hurt. It does. Faith doesn't require us to deny our pain or pretend everything is okay. Instead, biblical faith teaches us to bring our questions, disappointment, weakness, and confusion honestly before God while continuing to trust His character. And sometimes the most profound question isn't: "Why is this happening?" but: "God, where are You in this?" And This Conversation Isn't Over... This is only the next chapter of the conversation. Next week, we'll continue exploring what it means to recognize God at work and how we move from simply noticing His fingerprints to actually joining Him where He is working. We'll dig deeper into John 5:17–20, Jesus' example of watching what the Father is doing, and what it means for us to stop asking God to bless our plans and instead learn to recognize His activity and adjust our lives to Him. We'll also continue exploring what happens when the greatest work God is doing isn't necessarily happening around us—but within us. Because sometimes the greatest miracle isn't the circumstance that changed. It's the person we're becoming while we're walking through it. So if you've ever felt like God was silent... If you've ever wondered whether He sees you... If you've ever been exhausted from waiting... If you've ever struggled to recognize God in the middle of your valley... this conversation is for you. 🎙️ Listen to Parts 3 & 4 of Recognizing God at Work: Learning to See His Hand in Your Everyday Life on Prodigal Daughter: Light in the Shadows. And before you go, ask yourself: Where did I see God today? You might be surprised by what you discover. 🤍 Scripture References John 5:17–20 • 2 Corinthians 12:9 • 1 Kings 19:11–13 • 2 Kings 5:1–14 • John 11:1–44 • Matthew 11:2–6 • Psalm 119:105 • Romans 8:28 • Isaiah 43:2 Hashtags #ProdigalDaughter #LightInTheShadows #RecognizingGodAtWork #FindingGodInTheValley #GodIsWorking #GodsPresence #ChristianPodcast #ChristianWomen #FaithInTheStorm #FaithInTheValley #TrustingGod #UnansweredPrayer #GodsFaithfulness #BiblicalTruth #ChristianEncouragement #WalkingWithJesus #SpiritualGrowth #ChristianFaith #ChronicIllnessAndFaith #FaithJourney #GodsWill #Jesus #BiblicalEncouragement Support the show Grab your Bible, a cup of tea, or a soda, and tune in for a thoughtful discussion aimed at deepening your faith and guiding your spiritual journey. 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