There is a moment many of us have lived through, a moment so dark, so heavy, so uncertain, that we could not imagine anything good coming from it. I remember my own season, when my darkest days came, it should have been a sign that my breakthrough had come. I did not see it that way at the time. I saw only the darkness.
Allow me to share a very personal story with you; it happened about 35 years ago; my husband had choked me so many times, I can’t even count them. One day, he pulled the car off the road, parked, got out and came to my side of the car to choke me. Though he did not do it that time, I still remember the desperation I felt in that moment; it was a desperation that made me consider things I never thought I’d consider. I know it sounds harsh, but anyone being abused over long periods of time will begin to feel that way too. It is called self-preservation, which is the first law of nature.
I did not yet understand that the darkness was not the absence of my breakthrough; it was the doorway to it.
Shortly after that experience, my now ex-husband left the family for good. He didn’t announce that he was leaving; he took my suitcase and everything of his, and caught a plane back to Los Angeles, where we once lived as a family. That was the last time I ever had to deal with his choking. He is now in his fourth marriage; we are still on speaking terms; I have forgiven him.
We are conditioned to believe that breakthrough looks like light, ease and celebration. But if you study the Word, and if you study your own life, you will find that breakthrough is almost always preceded by pressure. The very thing that feels like it is breaking you may actually be the thing that is birthing you.
Consider Job. Before his restoration, before God gave him twice what he had before, Job endured loss upon loss, grief upon grief. Scripture tells us, “And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before” (Job 42:10, King James Version). The restoration came after the darkest chapter, not instead of it.
Another servant who proves this point is Joseph, sold by his own brothers, imprisoned on false charges, forgotten in a dungeon for years. And yet Joseph himself later said to those very brothers, “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive” (Genesis 50:20, KJV). His darkest days were not a detour from his purpose. They were the road to it.
So how do you tell when your breakthrough is here? Here is what I have come to know, both through Scripture and through living:
- The pressure intensifies right before the release. Just as a woman in labor feels the greatest pain right before the child is born, your greatest struggle often comes right before your greatest victory. Don’t mistake the intensity for defeat.
- Your peace doesn’t match your circumstances. Philippians 4:7 promises, “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (KJV). When you feel a calm you cannot logically explain in the middle of chaos, that is not denial; that is indeed a sign.
- Doors close that used to be open. What no longer works for you is not punishment. It is redirection. God is clearing the old to make room for the new.
- You are being tested in your obedience. Small, faithful, unglamorous acts, prayer, patience, integrity, showing up, it all tends to precede the miracle. “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Galatians 6:9, KJV).
- You start to see differently, before anything changes. Faith always shows up before evidence. 2 Corinthians 5:7 reminds us, “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (KJV). If your vision is shifting even while your situation looks the same, that shift is the beginning of your breakthrough.
I shared part of my own testimony because I want you to know, if you are in your darkest days right now, as I was, that darkness is not the final word. It may, in fact, be the very sign that your breakthrough is closer than you have ever imagined. Psalm 30:5 tells us, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning” (KJV).
Here is where you must hold on. Keep praying. Keep showing up. Your breakthrough may not look like what you expected; it may look like your darkest day. But sometimes, the darkest day is simply the breakthrough, still becoming.
Lyndia Grant is a speaker/writer living in the D.C. area. Her radio show, “Think on These Things,” airs Fridays at 6 p.m. on 1340 AM (WYCB), a Radio One station. To reach Grant, go to her website, www.lyndiagrant.com, email lyndiagrantshowdc@gmail.com or call 240-602-6295. Follow her on X @LyndiaGrant and on Facebook.
