Why Hard Times Are The Lifeline You Didn’t Know You Needed: Especially When You’re Already Exhausted
Written by Kalungi Patrick J.
KPJ is a Father and child of the FATHER
kalungipj@gmail.com
Feeling spiritually and physically drained? When you’re running on empty, the struggle or hustle can feel like a dead end or desert. But what if it’s the path to something more? Discover hope for the exhausted soul.
If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’re running on empty. Maybe you’re a single mother who woke up at 5 a.m. to pack lunches for your children, worked a full shift, helped with homework, and now you’re lying in bed wondering how you’ll afford school fees next term. Maybe you’re a husband who comes home to a silent house, craving connection with a wife who feels more like a stranger. Maybe you’re a young professional, three months into your first job, drowning in imposter syndrome and wondering if you’ll ever feel like you belong.
Perhaps you are that father: unemployed and exhausted from a day of searching for work, walking through the door late and empty-handed (without a kaveera), now seated in dark haunted by the thought of facing your starving children when morning comes.
Or maybe you’re someone dealing with the kind of pain you don’t talk about at work or with your pears like; the weight of rejection, the ache of unemployment, the quiet desperation of a home that doesn’t feel safe.
Here’s what I want you to know right up front: this article isn’t going to tell you to “pray more” or “have more faith” as if your struggles are unknown to God or somehow your fault. That’s not helpful
KPJ
Instead, I want to walk with you through a story that has helped people in struggle (hard seasons) for thousands of years. It’s a story about a man who walked into a wilderness when he had every reason to walk away. And what he discovered there might change how you see your own hustle or struggle. Buried in this story is a message for the exhausted, the short changed, the tired, the overwhelmed, the hard-working people who feel like they’re running a race with no finish line
.And it starts with a man in a desert.
Why the Wilderness Matters for the Tied and Weary
Here’s something we need to know about the wilderness “struggle” that often gets lost in religious settings: the man at the center of this story Jesus, didn’t go into the desert because life was easy. He went because he was about to start the hardest part of his life. Those days weren’t a retreat from reality but were preparation for it.
Think about what Jesus faced immediately after those desert days:
- Rejection from his own hometown
- Constant demands from crowds who wanted something from him
- Betrayal by friends
- A criminal’s death
The wilderness wasn’t the hard part. The wilderness was where he got ready for the hard part. And this is where your story connects to his.
You’re already in your wilderness. It looks like:
- The daily commute to a job that barely pays the bills
- The weight of making decisions alone because there’s no partner to share the load
- The exhaustion of being everything to everyone while feeling invisible yourself
- The loneliness of rejection, the ache of injustice, the silence of unanswered prayers
You don’t need to find your desert. You’re living in it.
But here’s what this story offers that you might be missing: the wilderness or desert like you are living in, was never the destination. It was the passage. Jesus didn’t stay in the desert. He walked through it. And the strength he found there wasn’t for surviving the struggle or hustle it was for thriving on the other side.
Three Lies the Exhausted Person Believes and; What Jesus Actually Shows Us
Lie 1: “My struggle means God has forgotten me.”
In the gospel of Matthew, we read that after forty days of fasting, Jesus was hungry. The tempter came and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
Notice what’s happening here. The enemy attacked at the point of Jesus’s physical need. Not his spiritual pride, not his ambition but his hunger. His legitimate, human, physical need.
Sound familiar? The enemy attacks you where it hurts most:
- The single mother’s fear about school fees
- The unemployed man’s desperation for dignity
- The abused woman’s longing for safety
But here’s what Jesus shows us: Need is not abandonment.
Being hungry didn’t mean God had left him. Being tempted didn’t mean he’d failed. Your struggle is not proof that you’ve been forgotten. It’s proof that you’re human, standing exactly where Jesus once stood.
Lie 2: “I have to do this alone.”
When Jesus was in the desert, Scripture says he was “with the wild animals.” Physically alone. But not spiritually abandoned.
I know what it feels like to be surrounded by people and still feel completely alone. I know the weight of carrying burdens that no one sees. The young professional walking into an office full of strangers. The husband lying next to a wife who feels miles away. The prisoner staring at four walls with only memories for company.
The aloneness is real. I won’t pretend it isn’t, because I might also be in some part of it.
But here’s what the story whispers: Alone is not the same as abandoned. Jesus was physically isolated, but he was held by the Father. Your loneliness in your hustle or struggle doesn’t mean you’ve been left. It means you’re in a season where you’re being asked to trust what you can’t yet see.
Lie 3: “My work isn’t making a difference.”
At the end of the forty days, Jesus emerged and immediately began the work he was made for. He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, and spoke words that still echo two thousand years later.
Your work looks different. You’re not performing miracles (or maybe you are; getting kids to school on time with everything they need feels pretty miraculous). You’re showing up day after day, doing the invisible work that holds families and communities together.
And here’s the truth: The work you’re doing in your struggle or hustle matters just as much as Jesus’s work mattered.
The mother who sacrifices so her children can have opportunities she never had: that’s holy work. The man who stays faithful in a struggling marriage: that’s sacred. The young professional who shows up and tries, even when she feels like a fraud: that’s the stuff of resurrection.
Your work in your own struggle or hustle isn’t invisible. It’s being seen by the One who walked through his own wilderness and came out the other side.
What the Wilderness Actually Teaches Us (When We Have No Time and No Margin)
Let’s be honest: most of us don’t have weeks (forty days) to spend in quiet contemplation. We have forty minutes if we’re lucky, and those are usually spent in traffic or waiting in pickup lines.
But here’s what I’ve learned about Jesus’s desert experience that actually applies to someone with no time and no margin:
1. Face the truth about your limitations.
Jesus was hungry. He was tired. He was alone. He didn’t pretend to be stronger than he was.
You can’t do that either. You can’t pretend you’re not exhausted when you are. You can’t fake your way through burnout. The first step out of your desert is admitting you’re in it.
2. Hold onto your identity.
Three times the tempter came. Three times he questioned who Jesus was. “If you are the Son of God…”
Your identity will get attacked or gets attacked too. You’re told you’re:
- Just a single mom
- Just another unemployed guy
- Just a victim
- Just not enough
But here’s what Jesus knew: His identity wasn’t determined by his circumstances. He was God’s Son whether he was in the desert or on the mountain. And you are God’s beloved whether you’re succeeding or struggling, whether anyone sees you or not.
3. Trust the timing.
Jesus didn’t leave the desert early. He stayed until the work was done.
I know you want your situation to change now. The school fees, the loneliness, the job, the pain; as you want it to end now. That’s not weakness; that’s humanity.
But sometimes the desert (struggle) has a timeline we don’t control. And trusting that doesn’t mean giving up but it means believing that what’s growing in you during this hard season matters as much as what’s waiting on the other side.
Think of it like a seed buried in soil. For a long time, nothing appears above ground. The darkness and pressure feel like failure. But beneath the surface, roots are forming. What looks like an ending is actually the quiet work of becoming. Your struggle may be preparing you for a fruitfulness you cannot yet imagine.
Your Guide to Walking Through Your Desert
Step 1: Name Your Hunger
Jesus was honest about what he needed. He didn’t pretend the hunger wasn’t there.
What are you hungry for?
- Financial stability?
- Emotional connection?
- Physical safety?
- A sense of purpose?
Write it down. Say it out loud in a silent prayer to God. Name it honestly before God. You can’t be fed if you won’t admit you’re hungry.
Step 2: Find Your Desert Community
Jesus had angels attending him after the temptation. He wasn’t alone forever.
Who are the angels in your life?
- The friend who texts just to check in?
- The family member who helps with childcare?
- The co-worker who shares your struggle?
- The Prayer group, counselor or support group?
Reach out to one person this week. Not to fix everything but just to be seen.
Step 3: Hold Fast to Your Identity
It’s important to know who you are life. Write down one true thing about yourself that has nothing to do with your circumstances:
- “I am loved.”
- “I am catholic”
- “I am resilient.”
- “I am not defined by my bank account.”
- “I am God’s child.”
- “I am a child of Mother Mary “
Put it somewhere you’ll see it every day. Read it when the lies get loud.
Step 4: Trust the Journey
Here’s the hard truth: I can’t tell you when your desert (struggle) will end. Neither can anyone else.
But I can tell you this: Jesus’s desert ended. And yours will too. Not because I’m optimistic, but because that’s how deserts work. They have an end. You walk through them, not into them.
“I believe that life will be okay in the end. If it’s not yet okay, then it’s not yet the end.”
What’s Waiting on the Other Side
When Jesus left the desert, he didn’t get an easy life. He got a meaningful one.
And that’s the promise for you too. Not that your struggles will disappear overnight. Not that school fees will magically be paid or that broken relationships will instantly heal. But that the same God who walked with Jesus through his desert will walk with you through yours.
The hard-working person who feels short-charged isn’t forgotten. You’re standing exactly where Jesus once stood and that is in the wilderness, being prepared for something you can’t yet see.
Jesus’s resurrection doesn’t erase the desert. It vindicates it.
Actionable Next Steps: Your First Move
You’ve read this far, which means something in your heart is stirring. Don’t let that feeling fade without action.
Here’s your first move:
Take five minutes tonight (before you fall asleep) to pray and write down one sentence answering this question:
“What do I need most right now that I’m afraid to admit?”
Be honest. Be specific. Don’t edit yourself.
Then fold that paper and put it somewhere safe. You don’t have to show anyone. You don’t have to pray eloquent words over it. Just let yourself name the hunger and let God take control.
That’s what Jesus did in the desert. And that’s where your journey through this hard season or struggle or hustle- whatever it looks like truly begins.
If this article touched something in you, share it with someone who needs to hear they’re not alone in their Struggle. And if you’re looking for more encouragement on those days when hope feels far away, you might find comfort in our pieces on this website or get in touch with a spiritual counsellor of the Kampala Archdiocese.
WHEN LIFE FEELS LIKE A DESERT: FINDING HOPE IN THE HARD SEASONS
— Social Communications Kampala Archdiocese