In the Middle of It: The Part No One Talks About

I haven’t written in a while. Partly because I felt like this space was becoming…heavy. And if I’m honest, outside of my son turning one, I haven’t had much light to write about lately. Life has been life-ing. Hard.

I miss the days when I was writing about flights booked on a whim and trips around the world with my best friend. Nine years ago today, I was in Switzerland, eating fondue and macarons without a care in the world. And then, almost like a full-circle moment, one year ago today we took our son to the park for the very first time.

That’s life, though, right? We don’t stay in one season forever.

It makes me think of one of my favorite scriptures, Ecclesiastes 3:1–9. There’s a time for everything. Good and bad. Easy and difficult. Joyful and uncomfortable.

As a church kid, I grew up hearing people testify about how God brought them through hard seasons. Back then, I couldn’t fully grasp it. My life felt…sheltered. I hadn’t really gone through anything that required that kind of testimony.

But these last two years, I get it now.

The Christian in me wants to skip ahead to the part where I can say, “it was all worth it.” Where I can neatly tie a bow on the story and point to the victory on the other side. But the truth is, the going through part is harder than I ever imagined.

Still, I’m reminded of a sermon my pastor preached a couple years ago called “There’s Value in the Valley.”

I was in a valley then too, early in my pregnancy, navigating complications that made everything feel uncertain. I was considered high-risk, going in for weekly or biweekly ultrasounds from seven to nineteen weeks just to make sure my son was developing and that I wasn’t miscarrying.

And God brought me through that.

Every concern my care team had in the beginning was gone by the end. In its place was a perfectly healthy baby boy.

So even now, in a completely different set of challenges, new territory and unfamiliar struggles, I hold onto that. If He was with me then, He’s with me now.

This season has been a lot. Truly.

But if you’re reading this and you’re in your own “valley,” feeling overwhelmed, broken, depleted, unsure, or just stuck, I see you.

And more importantly, God sees you.

Do me a favor. Don’t give up. Don’t claim defeat in a temporary season. You’re going to be okay.