2 Corinthians 1:9

Paul says this happened “so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.” That is a hard truth, but a necessary one. Sometimes God allows us to reach the end of ourselves because we have been leaning on ourselves more than we realized. That does not mean every hard season is easy to interpret or that God delights in pain. But it does mean He often uses pain to expose where we have quietly placed our trust in our own strength, control, resilience, or capacity to hold everything together.

That exposure can feel painful, but it can also be holy. Because sometimes the collapse of self-reliance becomes the doorway into deeper dependence.

Reflect: Where has this season exposed how much you have been relying on your own strength?
Pray: Father, where I have been leaning on myself, teach me to lean on You. Meet me in the place where my strength runs out and remind me that You are enough.