Faith encouragement for hard seasons: Choosing Gratitude in Divorce, Disappointment, and the Desert (with Alana)

Faith encouragement isn't just for the mountaintop. It's for the days your prayers feel unanswered, your heart is tired, and life is not turning out the way you begged it to. In this episode, my friend Alana and I talk about gratitude that actually works in hard seasons, not the fake kind.


Alana shares a sobering moment from 2023 when she realized her marriage would be ending. She describes how God prepared her heart and gently showed her something hard to hold: there are restorations we may not see this side of heaven. And in that grief, she learned a new way to practice gratitude, not praising God for the storm, but praising God in the storm.


We talk about what it looks like to cultivate gratitude when life is overwhelming. How your words can steer your heart. Why "thank you" can be a starting point, even when you can't touch the pain yet. And how gratitude and contentment are tied together in a way that protects you from bitterness, distraction, and the spiral of pride.


Alana gets super practical, too. She shares how gratitude can show up when you're facing loss, divorce, unexpected turns, or big disappointments. Sometimes you can't thank God for the situation, but you can thank Him for who He is. His eternal nature. His presence. His promises. His salvation. And that shift changes what happens next.


We also talk about the fruit of gratefulness, how it creates humility and a willingness to serve, and why ungratefulness steals joy in the moment and can cost you opportunities you only recognize years later.


If you feel like you're in a desert season right now, this conversation will help you take the next step without pretending the desert is easy. And it will remind you that God is moving you somewhere, even when the path feels like heavy lifting.