When Life Feels Heavy: The Phase You Hate Most Might Be the One God Uses Most
When Life Feels Heavy: The Phase You Hate Most Might Be the One God Uses Mostl
By Bev Jessup
It was early.
The house was still quiet.
And before heading to work, I felt this nudge — Share what’s on your heart.
Because maybe you’re here right now:
Life feels heavy.
Things aren’t going the way you expected.
You’re confused, stuck, and quietly wondering,
“What’s wrong with my faith?”
Can I challenge that gently?
What if the phase you hate most is actually the phase God uses the most?
If you stay with me through this reflection, you’ll be able to recognise exactly where you are in God’s process — and why it’s not a sign of failure.
Sometimes it’s simply the stage God has you in.
The Gingerbread Night That Preached a Sermon
I normally do my livestreams on a Monday, but this week I was helping at our church’s annual Gingerbread Night — a community event that’s been running for over a decade. Our pastor’s wife pours her whole heart into it every year.
Behind the scenes was what real life usually looks like:
– tarpaulin taped down to protect the floors
– bowls, cups, scissors, icing, sweets
– IKEA flat-pack gingerbread houses ferried over from Southampton because we don’t have an IKEA on the Isle of Wight
– homemade spiced apple drink
– volunteers everywhere
– prayers whispered in corners
All that work for one evening of creative joy.
Each table held the same materials… but every house came out different.
Just like us.
Same building blocks — different stories, wounds, and hopes.
But two moments stopped me in my tracks.
1. The Plain Gingerbread Stable
Among all the colourful, oozing, icing-covered houses stood one simple creation:
A plain gingerbread stable.
No glitter.
No piping.
No sweets.
Just a small shelter with Mary, Joseph, and Jesus inside — and a tiny light glowing at the centre.
And honestly? It preached a better sermon than most of us do.
Jesus didn’t arrive wrapped in sparkle and comfort.
He stepped straight into dirt, danger, and the ordinary mess of real life.
Health and safety regulations would have shut that stable down in a heartbeat — and yet God chose that place to enter the world.
2. The Testimony That Silenced the Room
Halfway through the evening, we watched a video testimony from a young mum in our church who couldn’t attend in person. She lives with a severe neurological condition (FND), which causes unpredictable seizures. She’s a single mum of two young children. She requires 24-hour care. And English isn’t her first language.
But what she shared was clearer than anything I could have said:
She has peace — not because her circumstances are easy,
but because Jesus is with her in the valleys and storms.
No decoration.
No sugar-coating.
Just real faith in a real Saviour.
Both moments told the same truth:
Jesus didn’t come for a perfect world.
He came for the broken one —
and for the broken us.
Which leads straight into the heart of the message God has been pressing on me.
The Six Phases Every Christian Walks Through
We often expect faith to look like this:
Guide → Provide → Done.
But God works more like this:
Guide → Process → Become.
Here are the six phases we all walk through:
1. DREAM
God plants a desire, a possibility, a calling.
2. DECISION
You say yes — often with trembling hands.
3. DELAY
Nothing happens.
Or not fast enough.
And you panic.
4. DIFFICULTY
Opposition rises.
Life gets messy.
You wonder if you misheard God.
5. DEAD-END
You hit a wall you can’t move.
This is where most people think God has abandoned them.
6. DELIVERANCE
The moment only God can orchestrate.
The part where He gets all the glory.
We hate the delay.
We despise the difficulty.
We break apart at the dead-end.
But these are the very phases God uses to form us.
The delay isn’t punishment.
The difficulty isn’t disapproval.
The dead-end is often the doorway to deliverance.
So let me ask you gently:
Which phase are you in today?
A Gentle Advent Invitation
This is exactly why I’m hosting the Advent “Prepare a Place for Him” Workshop this Monday at 8pm UK time.
Not a busy, frantic, glitter-soaked event…
but a calm, creative, reflective space to reconnect with Jesus in the middle of your real, imperfect life.
If you need a moment to breathe, reflect, journal, or simply be with God —
I would love you to join us.
👉 Sign up here: https://creativesoulspace.com/advent
It’s free.
It’s peaceful.
And I believe it will meet you right where you are.
Final Thought
Where God guides, He provides —
just rarely on the timeline we’d prefer.
He always finishes what He starts.
And He hasn’t stopped with you.
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