Getting Through a Difficult Season
Reflection & Prayer Prompts
For personal processing during hard times
Personal Reflection Questions
Take your time with these. You don't need to answer them all at once. Some may resonate more than others. Let yourself sit with whatever comes up.
On Where You Are
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If someone asked you "How are you doing?" and you answered honestly instead of automatically, what would you say?
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What is the difficult season you're in right now — or the one you see approaching? Without minimizing it or catastrophizing it, how would you name it?
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When you imagine getting through this season, what does "the other side" look like? What are you hoping for?
On Support
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Who are the people you can be fully honest with about what you're facing? If no one comes to mind, what has kept you from finding those people?
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Think about the last time you needed help. Did you ask for it? If not, what stopped you? What story do you tell yourself about needing help?
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What would it take for you to let people in more — not just to know about your situation, but to actually support you through it?
On Control and Surrender
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What parts of your difficult season have you been trying to control that aren't actually in your control? What would it feel like to let those go?
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What parts of your situation can you actually influence? Are you spending your energy there — or somewhere else?
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What would it look like to surrender the outcomes while still doing your part? How do you hold both effort and release at the same time?
On Limits and Care
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What commitments, obligations, or relationships are draining you more than they're sustaining you right now? What would have to change for you to step back from them, even temporarily?
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Where in your life are you running on empty? What rest, recreation, or refueling have you been putting off because it feels selfish?
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If a friend were going through what you're going through, what would you tell them about rest and self-care? Can you give yourself the same permission?
On Meaning and Perspective
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Why are you persevering through this? What is the deeper purpose — the "why" beneath the "what"?
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When you think of your life as a long story, where does this difficult season fit? What chapter is this? What might be coming next?
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Without minimizing the pain, are there any good things emerging from this hard time? Deeper relationships? New understanding? Unexpected growth?
Guided Prayer Language
These prayers are offered as starting points — ways to put into words what you might be feeling. Adapt them. Shorten them. Make them yours.
A Prayer When You're Overwhelmed
God, I don't know how to do this. I'm tired. The weight of what's in front of me feels like more than I can carry.
I know you don't promise to remove hard things from my life. But you do promise not to leave me alone in them.
Help me stop trying to carry what's too heavy. Show me where I'm exhausting myself on things I can't control. Give me the wisdom to focus my effort where it matters — and the courage to release the rest.
I don't need to understand everything. I just need enough strength for today. Give me that. Amen.
A Prayer for Asking for Help
God, I don't know why asking for help feels so hard. Maybe it's pride. Maybe it's fear. Maybe it's not wanting to be a burden.
But you made me for community. You said it's not good to be alone. You designed us to carry one another's burdens.
Give me the humility to need people. Give me the courage to let them see me struggling. Help me believe that receiving help isn't weakness — it's wisdom.
Show me who to ask. And when I ask, help me receive what's offered without shame. Amen.
A Prayer When You Don't Know How It Ends
God, I hate not knowing. I want to see the end of this, to know it's going to be okay. The uncertainty is its own kind of suffering.
But you hold what I can't see. You know how this story ends — and you're already there.
Help me trust you with the future while I take care of today. Give me enough light for the next step, even when I can't see the whole path.
I'm choosing to believe that this season is not the end of my story. That there is more coming. That you are able to bring good even out of this.
Help my unbelief. Amen.
A Prayer for Permission to Rest
God, I feel guilty for being tired. I feel like I should be doing more, pushing harder, holding it all together.
But you rested. You made rest holy. You never asked me to be a machine.
Give me permission to stop — even briefly. Help me believe that rest isn't abandonment, it's maintenance. That taking care of myself isn't selfish.
Guard my rest. Make it real. Let me come back to this work renewed rather than depleted.
I put down what I'm carrying — at least for now. Help me trust you to hold it while I breathe. Amen.
Journaling Prompts
If you process better through writing, here are prompts to work through on your own. There are no right answers. The goal is honesty, not performance.
Prompt 1: The Support Audit
Write out your "concentric circles" — the people closest to you, your next ring of community, and your broader network. For each name, write one sentence about what kind of support they offer (practical help, emotional presence, wise counsel, etc.). Then write about the gaps. Who's missing? What kind of support do you need that no one is currently providing?
Prompt 2: What I Can't Control
Make a list of everything about your situation that you cannot control — every outcome, every variable, every uncertainty. Don't hold back. Let the list be long if it needs to be.
Then write a letter releasing them. It might begin: "God, I'm giving these to you. Not because I don't care, but because I can't carry them..."
Prompt 3: The Drains and the Fuels
Draw a line down the middle of a page. On one side, list every person, activity, or commitment that's draining your energy right now. On the other side, list what fuels and restores you.
Then write about what it would take to decrease the drains and increase the fuels — even a little. What fears or obligations are keeping you from making changes? What permission would you need?
Prompt 4: A Letter to Your Future Self
Imagine yourself one year from now. This difficult season is behind you — however it turned out. Write a letter from that future self to the person you are today. What would you want to say? What encouragement would you give? What would you want yourself to remember?
Prompt 5: The Screenwriter Exercise
Dr. Cloud talks about being the screenwriter of how your character goes through this scene. Imagine the "character" going through what you're going through. Write a paragraph describing how that character handles this season — not perfectly, but well. What do they do? Who do they lean on? How do they show up? What choices do they make?
Then ask yourself: what would it take for me to become that character?
A Final Word
Difficult seasons are not evidence that God has abandoned you. They are not proof that you've done something wrong. They are simply part of life — a part that can be walked through with intention, support, and grace.
You are allowed to struggle. You are allowed to be tired. You are allowed to not have it all figured out.
And you are not alone. Even when it feels like it.
This season will end. And when it does, you will have been shaped by how you walked through it. Not perfect. Not without scars. But stronger. Deeper. More connected.
One step at a time.