Thursday August 20, 2026- Your Struggle Is Not Wasted
Devotional
There is a version of faith that suggests that if you are really walking with God, life should be smooth. If you pray enough, believe enough, obey enough, and stay close enough to God, then perhaps hardship will disappear. But that version of faith leaves out most of the Bible.
The Bible is filled with people who loved God and still struggled... Noah obeyed God, built the ark, survived the flood—and later experienced a humiliating moment in his tent. Abraham trusted God, yet spent years waiting for the promise. Joseph was favored by his father, yet betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, falsely accused, and forgotten in prison. Moses was called by God, yet struggled with insecurity and anger. David was a man after God's own heart, yet experienced failure, family dysfunction, betrayal, and consequences for his sin. Elijah stood boldly against the prophets of Baal, yet later became discouraged and wanted to die. Peter walked with Jesus, yet denied Him three times. Paul preached the gospel faithfully, yet carried a "thorn in the flesh" that God chose not to remove.
Real faith is not the absence of struggle. It is the presence of God in the middle of the struggle.
And here is something worth sitting with: if you had never gone through anything hard, you would have nothing to offer someone who is going through something hard right now.
Your pain is not pointless.
Your failure is not wasted.
Your disappointment is not meaningless.
Your struggle may become somebody else's testimony.
Joseph: Betrayal Became Preparation
Joseph's story is one of the clearest examples that what looks like wasted time can actually be preparation. His brothers hated him, threw him into a pit, and sold him into slavery. Joseph then found himself serving in Egypt, only to be falsely accused and thrown into prison. Imagine being Joseph. He had a dream from God, but his reality looked nothing like the dream.
Yet God was with him in the pit.
God was with him in Potiphar's house.
God was with him in prison.
And eventually, God elevated him to a position where he could save countless people from famine—including the very brothers who had betrayed him.
Joseph eventually told his brothers:
"You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good." — Genesis 50:20
Joseph's struggle wasn't wasted. The pit prepared him for the palace.The prison prepared him for leadership.The betrayal prepared him to understand God's providence. Sometimes what you call a setback is actually a classroom.
David: Failure Became a Testimony of Grace
David was a worshiper, warrior, king, and man after God's own heart. But David was not perfect. He committed adultery with Bathsheba and arranged for her husband, Uriah, to be killed. David's sin had devastating consequences. Yet David's story did not end with his failure. He repented. He cried. He returned to God. And through David's life, Scripture gives us some of the most powerful language of repentance and restoration in Psalm 51:
"Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." — Psalm 51:10
David's failure did not become an excuse to stay away from God. It became an opportunity to discover the depth of God's mercy. Your worst moment does not have to become your final chapter.
There are people who need to know that falling does not mean you cannot get back up.
Peter: Failure Became a Ministry of Restoration
Peter boldly declared that he would never abandon Jesus. Yet when Jesus was arrested, Peter denied knowing Him three times. Can you imagine the shame? Peter had failed publicly. But Jesus did not discard him. After the resurrection, Jesus met Peter by the Sea of Galilee and restored him. Three times Peter had denied Jesus, and three times Jesus gave Peter an opportunity to affirm his love. Then Jesus told him:
"Feed my sheep." — John 21:17
Think about that.
The man who failed became the man Jesus entrusted with ministry.
Peter's failure became part of his understanding of grace.
He could preach about restoration because he had experienced restoration.
Sometimes God allows you to walk through a place of brokenness so that you can recognize broken people when you encounter them.
Paul: The Thorn Became a Lesson in Grace
Paul prayed repeatedly for God to remove his thorn in the flesh.
God did not remove it.
Instead, God told him:
"My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness." — 2 Corinthians 12:9
Paul discovered something many of us struggle to accept:
God does not always deliver us from the struggle; sometimes He meets us in the struggle and gives us grace to endure it.
The thorn became a testimony.
Paul learned that weakness did not disqualify him from being used by God.
In fact, his weakness became the place where God's strength was most clearly displayed.
Maybe your struggle isn't proof that God has abandoned you.
Maybe it is the very place where you are learning how sufficient His grace really is.
Hannah: Tears Became a Testimony
Hannah knew what it meant to pray through pain.
She was mocked because she had no children. She carried grief that others did not fully understand. Yet she continued to bring her pain before God.
She prayed so intensely that Eli initially thought she was drunk.
But Hannah kept praying.
God eventually answered her prayer, and she gave birth to Samuel, who would become one of Israel's great prophets.
Hannah's tears were not wasted.
The prayers you pray through tears are still prayers.
Some of the deepest things God does in us happen while we are waiting for Him to do something through us.
Lazarus: A Delay Was Not a Denial
When Lazarus became sick, Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus.
But Jesus did not come immediately.
By the time He arrived, Lazarus had been dead for four days.
From the family's perspective, it looked like Jesus was too late.
But Jesus said:
"This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God." — John 11:4
What looked like a delay became a demonstration of God's power.
Sometimes we interpret God's timing as God's absence.
But a delay does not mean God has forgotten you.
God may be working in ways you cannot see while you are standing in the middle of what feels like an unanswered prayer.
Noah: Even After the Flood
And then there is Noah.
Noah obeyed God when the world around him did not. He built the ark, endured the flood, and stepped into a new beginning.
But Noah was not perfect after the flood.
Genesis 9 records a painful and embarrassing moment when Noah became drunk and was exposed in his tent.
Yet notice what happens in Genesis 9:1:
"And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth."
God still had a future for Noah. His failure did not erase God's purpose. His embarrassing chapter did not cancel his calling. Grace does not mean your mistakes never happened. Grace means your mistakes do not have to have the final word.
That is good news for imperfect people.
And all of us are imperfect people.
Your Mess Can Become Your Ministry
There are places in your story that you may wish you could erase.
The divorce.
The addiction.
The financial failure.
The broken relationship.
The bad decision.
The season of depression.
The betrayal.
The time you walked away from God.
The prayer that wasn't answered the way you wanted.
The season when you didn't recognize yourself.
The mistake you thought nobody would ever forgive.
You may want to bury those chapters.
But be careful about burying what God may want to redeem.
Your testimony doesn't have to be: "Look how perfect I was."
Your testimony can be: "Look how faithful God was."
That's the difference.
The power of your testimony is not found in how impressive your past was.
It is found in how faithful God was in spite of your past.
Someone needs to hear that God met you in your lowest moment.
Someone needs to know they are not too far gone.
Someone needs to know that failure is not final.
Someone needs to know that God can still write a beautiful chapter after an ugly one.
Someone needs to know that they can cry and still have faith.
Someone needs to know that they can struggle and still love God.
Someone needs to know that they can fall and still get back up.
Your story—including the messy parts—is part of what God wants to use.
Your struggle may become someone else's survival guide.
God Is a God of Progression
God is not a God of perfection alone. He is a God of progression.
And progression does not require perfection.
Think about the disciples.
They were often confused.
They argued about who was greatest.
They misunderstood Jesus.
They ran away when He was arrested.
Peter denied Him.
Thomas doubted.
Yet Jesus continued working with them.
Why? Because God is patient with the process.
You may not be where you want to be, but thank God you are not where you used to be.
You may still have struggles, but you have also gained wisdom.
You may still have wounds, but you have learned how to depend on God.
You may still have questions, but you have discovered that God's faithfulness does not depend on your understanding.
Don't despise your process simply because you haven't reached your destination.
God is still working.
What You Do With Your Struggle Matters
Your struggle can make you bitter, or it can make you better.
It can make you hide, or it can teach you humility.
It can make you isolate yourself, or it can give you compassion for others.
It can make you question God, or it can deepen your dependence on Him.
The goal isn't to glorify the struggle.
The goal is to glorify God who carried you through it.
Paul didn't glorify his thorn.
Joseph didn't glorify the pit.
David didn't glorify his sin.
Peter didn't glorify his denial.
Hannah didn't glorify her barrenness.
Noah didn't glorify his drunkenness.
They glorified the God who was faithful in the middle of it.
And that may be the greatest testimony of all.
You survived what you thought would destroy you.
You made it through what you thought you would never get through.
You cried, but you kept praying.
You fell, but you got back up.
You were wounded, but you kept walking.
You didn't understand, but you kept trusting.
You were weak, but God's grace sustained you.
So don't be so quick to bury your story.
There is somebody who needs the testimony that only your journey can provide.
Bible Verse
"And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth." — Genesis 9:1
Noah's blessing came after the flood.
That means the flood was not the end of his story.
And your flood isn't the end of yours.
Reflection Questions
What painful chapter of your story have you been tempted to hide?
How has God sustained you through something you once thought would break you?
What did your struggle teach you about God?
Is there someone who could be encouraged by what God brought you through?
How might God use your testimony to help someone who is currently walking through a similar struggle?
Quote
"If I did not have a problem, I wouldn't know God could solve them. If I didn't get sick, I couldn't testify that He's a healer. If my heart had not been broken, I couldn't testify He's a heart fixer."
Prayer
Lord, help me to see my struggles through Your eyes.
There are things I have experienced that I still don't understand. There are wounds I still carry, mistakes I wish I could undo, and chapters of my life I would rather forget.
But today, help me remember that You waste nothing.
Take my pain and turn it into purpose.
Take my failures and teach me through them.
Take my disappointments and use them to deepen my faith.
Take my scars and make them evidence of Your grace.
Give me courage to stop being ashamed of what You have already brought me through. Help me understand that my testimony is not about how strong I have been, but about how faithful You have been.
When someone else is hurting, remind me that I may have exactly what they need—not because I have all the answers, but because I know the God who carried me.
Thank You for every pit You brought me out of, every prison You sustained me in, every tear You collected, every failure You redeemed, and every moment when Your grace was sufficient.
Help me not to waste my struggle.
Use my story.
Use my scars.
Use my testimony.
And let everything I have been through ultimately point somebody else to You.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
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