Finding hope in hard times, faith during divorce, and surrendering to God—this episode will help you navigate life’s most difficult seasons with strength and peace. If you're searching for hope in hard times, especially during divorce, health struggles, or emotional overwhelm, this episode is for you.

In this heartfelt solo episode, Lesa shares her personal journey through breast cancer, surrender, and faith—and how those hard seasons shaped her into a stronger, more grounded woman. Rooted in Romans 5:2–5, this conversation explores how suffering produces perseverance, character, and ultimately… hope.

If you're in the middle of something hard right now, this episode will remind you: this season is not breaking you—it’s shaping you. And there is hope waiting on the other side.

Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction to getting through hard times with faith

(02:10) Why this episode was inspired by real-life struggles

(04:25) Reading and reflecting on Romans 5:2–5

(07:15) Understanding suffering, perseverance, character, and hope

(10:30) Personal story: navigating breast cancer and surrender

(15:45) The moment of letting go of control

(19:20) Why you can’t rush healing in hard seasons

(22:10) Learning to sit in suffering and trust the process

(25:00) Practical tool: “I’m safe, God’s got me” mantra

(28:40) Processing emotions after the crisis moment

(31:15) How hard times transform who you become

(34:00) Why this season is shaping—not breaking—you

Key Takeaways:

• Hard times are part of a process that leads to growth, strength, and hope
• Surrendering control to God creates peace during uncertainty
• You don’t have to “fix” everything—sometimes you just need to stay present
• Simple practices like grounding and prayer can calm you in overwhelming moments
• The hardest seasons often lead to the most meaningful transformation

Guest Bio:

This is a solo episode with Lesa Koski, divorce mediator, life coach, and host of Doing Divorce Different. Lesa helps women over 40 navigate divorce and life transitions with clarity, faith, and strength—guiding them to create a better life on the other side.

Resource Links:

• https://www.lesakoski.com/

Tags/Keywords:

hope in hard times, faith during divorce, surrender to God, Christian encouragement, divorce support for women over 40, emotional healing, overcoming adversity, midlife transformation, trusting God in hard seasons, mindset and faith, personal growth through struggle

Welcome to doing Divorce Different, they're really what I like

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to call it, doing life different.

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And today, um, is gonna be

kind of a short episode.

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It's gonna be heartfelt, and I

just want to talk about getting

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through hard times with faith.

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Hope and surrender because I think

most people who are listening to

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this are probably going through a

hard time and you know, we know.

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I mean, I know.

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Hard times are divorce, it's

health scares, it's death.

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It's just feeling overwhelmed

and scared about something.

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Um, those are really difficult times

and it's different for everyone.

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So if you are in a season where you

are in the midst of going through

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something really hard, this is for you.

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And I have to tell you the reason that.

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Thought up this episode.

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I think it was inspired, um,

because I was doing my Bible study.

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I do it with a group of gals and,

um, you know, my story, my heart,

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and, and I'll talk more about that.

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And the surrendering was the.

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Catching that stage one breast

cancer and all the treatment

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that I had to go through.

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Um, now my hubby has been through hard

with a heart surgery and, um, the recovery

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of it and some setbacks, and so we all.

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We all go through hard.

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I wish I could say that

we're not, but we do.

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And when you're in the middle of it,

um, I, well, when I was in the middle

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of it, I felt really lost, but I still,

because of my relationship with God and

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the finally surrendering I got through

it, it was a little hard at first.

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I think that this can help you,

and I just have to read this.

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Um, this is what jumped out at

me, and it's in Romans five.

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I'm just gonna start at verse two, and

I'm gonna read it all the way down.

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Also, through him and on the ground

of our trust, we have gained access

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to this grace in which we stand.

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So let us boast about the hope

of experiencing God's glory.

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Not only that, let us also boast

in our troubles because we know

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that trouble produces endurance.

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Endurance produces character,

and character produces hope, and

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this hope does not let us down.

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Because God's love for us has already

been poured out in our hearts through

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the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

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Ugh, I love that so much.

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And it spoke to me because that was the

thing that I had hope in that that there

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was some piece of me that knew what I

was going through was gonna make me.

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Better, stronger, and it still sucked

and I don't wanna go through it again.

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I wanna learn all the lessons I can,

but you know, you can boast about the

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goodness of God and the glory, and we

should, when everything's going well,

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we can be thankful and have gratitude.

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We also need to boast in those hard

things because that is what teaches us.

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And I am not kidding you.

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I'm still learning lessons

from what I went through.

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I mean, I think, I think like my darkest

point was like having to go to chemo and

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I'm like this healthy, vibrant woman.

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Woman always like wanting to tell

people how to be healthy and vibrant.

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And here I was, the sick one.

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Putting something in my body that

poisoned me and it was, I don't

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even like to talk about it now.

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I don't even like, it's like

I want, I feel like, oh, I

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wanna be better than that.

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Like, I've never been through

that, that, that's silly.

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Um, I have been through it and I am still

learning from that, but it taught me.

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I didn't have control over everything,

and we don't, guys, we, we do have

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control over our actions and how

we handle things, and we also.

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I don't wanna beat ourselves

up because we're only human.

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We just love yourself.

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Learn from things that you've done wrong

and move forward and forgive and love.

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I mean, these are the things

that I, I learned, but what I

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want you to know is I did suffer.

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Just like you might be

suffering right now.

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Maybe you've been thrown a divorce

in your face, maybe you've been

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diagnosed, maybe something's going on,

one of your kids isn't talking to you.

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That suffering is hard and

you just have to sit in it.

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And I had, I was a life coach for goodness

sakes, and I still felt ill prepared

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because I could handle the day to day

feelings and the unwanted feelings.

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But I was stuck for a little bit and

I couldn't even get out of that spin.

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And, you know, it just took, sitting

in it, sitting a little bit in the

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suffering, having that deep, knowing that.

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I was going to come out

of this better, stronger.

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On the other side, I would have

lessons that I would learn.

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I would understand things more.

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I could have more empathy,

but it's a hard moment.

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It's a hard season, and you have

to just be patient through that.

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You can't rush it.

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I couldn't rush it.

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I had to sit there.

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I had to go through all that.

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I mean, that was like six months

or more of my life that I was

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going through hard things.

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Surgery and, and chemo and radiology.

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And then I went even

longer with immune therapy.

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So I.

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All of that though, all that suffering.

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I remember sitting there and being

like, I can't do anything about this.

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Where my whole life I had taken

action to get out of it, and

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that's what taught me the most.

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So I showed up anyway.

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I showed up anyway one day at a time.

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I just kept going and I

kept taking care of myself.

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I kept doing everything I

could to care for myself.

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Um, and that was, I mean, we can talk, we

have episodes that talk about your health,

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your mindset, your um, stress levels,

your sleep, all of that I kept doing.

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I kept, that was what I could do,

and I slowly was surrendering.

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To God knowing that this life is

a gift and it's not my business.

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The length of it, it's a gift.

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And I am here and I, I just gave

it to God because you know what?

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He knows way better than

I do what's best for me.

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And so when you're going through

something hard, knowing that

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God has you, he's got your back.

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It's gonna help your

character who you're becoming.

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And it built mine.

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It built mine.

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It changed me.

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It shut my mouth.

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It made me not tell people

all the time how to handle

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something because I don't know.

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And it just taught me that

the most important thing was

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that relationship with God.

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And um.

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Just giving things to him and surrendering

and finding joy and peace in that it

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was like a internal transformation

and it is available to everybody

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who is going through something hard,

and it doesn't mean that it's gonna

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be fast, and the recovery can be

slow and it can take a long time.

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But hold onto that hope.

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And that was something that I

would always throw out to people

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because I always said, I want you

to have a better life after divorce.

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And honestly, the people who have

gone through really hard ones and they

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look back, they look back and they go.

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I'm so glad for all that I learned.

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I'm so thankful, um, for going

through that for the changes that

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that came and just have the confidence

to know you're gonna be okay.

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Trust God's plan, you are gonna be okay.

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He knows better than

you, what's good for you.

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So, you know, I kind of have shared,

I took a lot of time sharing my

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own little hard through cancer.

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I've had other.

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Other things that have been hard,

marital stuff, um, forgiveness things,

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emotional overwhelm that I can get.

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And it feels like, it feels

like so scary and it feels

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like I don't have any control.

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And it feels like, oh, I don't

know what's gonna happen.

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Like probably what

you're feeling right now.

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And, um, what I learned was that the

letting go and the surrendering to God.

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It changed me.

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And just so you know, um, sometimes you

can't get there with your mind and change

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how you're thinking because it's so, um,

hard and it's so scary in the moment.

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And.

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What I came to do.

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Like if I wake up in the middle of the

night anxious or if something scares

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me, I can just put my hand on my heart

and feel that and I can say, I'm safe.

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God's got me.

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And I kind of do that mantra 'cause

that's all I can do sometimes.

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Sometimes I can't go into what's

the thought behind the feeling.

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Sometimes that's helpful, but

when you're in the cusp of

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something really hard and scary.

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Hey, you can't do that.

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You just have to survive through it.

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And it did.

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It does gimme peace.

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It gave me peace to go.

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And when something really scary

happens in the moment, I go, I'm safe.

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God's got me.

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And then what I've learned

through people on this podcast,

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when there's time later on.

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I can go jump on my trampoline or she,

you know, you can dance, you can do

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whatever you have to do and you can ask

to look at that feeling you are having

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when you're in a place, a better place.

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And then you can look

at it and heal from a.

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Friends.

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It, it takes time.

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It just does take time.

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But what I want you to know, what I

want you to get out of this is when

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you're going through something hard,

like divorce or a hard time with your

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kids, or just like being emotionally

overrun or a bad diagnosis, there's.

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Hope this is shaping you.

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It's not breaking you.

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I am a better person.

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I, uh, I have, there are so

many things that I learned.

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One, the surrender, I have let go.

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I remember now when I get scared about

something, I go, oh, I handled cancer.

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I can handle this and I know how to do it.

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It.

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I, I stopped drinking so much.

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I became, he, I became even healthier.

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I started looking at my stress

and finding fun and joy.

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I brought that back in because

that's so important in our

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lives to have that community.

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There were so many things that I learned.

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I became stronger, deeper,

more grounded, and you can too.

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This all leads to hope so.

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This is not the end of your story.

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There is a purpose for this season, and

I just, just share this with someone.

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If you're going through something harder

or you know someone that is, please

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share this episode with them because

I really want to help you feel better.

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Just that little bit of hope can

help you through your suffering.

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You take good care.