#210 Tested In The Hidden Place

Being unseen can mess with your mind, especially when you’re trying to do the right thing. We sit with that tension and tell the truth out loud: a hidden season is not a wasted season, and testing does not mean God has overlooked you. If you’ve been feeling ignored, underestimated, or quietly exhausted, this is a faith reset that brings you back to steady ground. 

We lean on Joshua 1:5 and the handoff from Moses to Joshua to talk about uncertainty, big assignments, and the pressure to fill someone else’s shoes. We share why courage shows up in Scripture again and again, and how God’s promise to stay with us becomes real security when the outcome is unclear. We also define what a “test” actually is, and why pressure can reveal what we need to heal instead of what we need to hide. 

Then we go deeper into the idea of growth in isolation, especially in a world addicted to visibility and curated perfection. Using the diamond formation process, we connect heat, pressure, and the “cuts” inside us to spiritual value and inner beauty. We close with a practical invitation to the Finding Your Diamonds masterclass and a reminder that you are still a diamond, even when life feels rough. Subscribe, share this with a friend who feels unseen, and leave a review to help more people find the encouragement, will you?

A journey through spiritual refinement, identity, healing, and growth, learning how pressure produces purpose and reveals the diamond within.

An invitation to come and be a part of what God is building here at God's Diamond Network.  We don't have to go at it alone; this is where we will grow together.

A Christ-centered journey of reset, refinement, and realignment, helping you confront darkness, heal deeply, and walk boldly in your God-given identity and purpose.

A gentle reminder to financially support us with a $3.99 monthly seed that helps us continue to share Kingdom conversations that transform lives. 

Thank you for listening, and we hope you will return every week.

Transcript

Welcome And Today’s Theme

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Hello, hello, and welcome back to God's Diamonds in the Rough. We are so glad. I am so glad to be before you one more time. So today we are talking about being tested without being seen. Yeah, we are still in the season of refinement. I hope you are here gathered together on YouTube and hearing this. So we're gonna be right back here in just a moment. Hang in there. Introduction. Those of you that are watching visually, I am Catherine, and I am so glad to be before you one more time. God's diamonds in the rough. Like we want everybody to understand and know that they are a diamond in the sight of God. Hallelujah. We are all going through this, that, and the third life be life and on all of us. Hallelujah. But this season we are in refinement, and God is just shifting things ever so, ever so a little bit here at a time. And so I hear I come here before you, you know, wholeheartedly,

Joshua 1:5 And Real Courage

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hoping that you can see that, you know, even though you're being tested, even though you're going through the test, it doesn't mean you're not seen. Like at the end of the day, you might feel unseen. You might feel like you know nobody understands, but you got one that does, and God absolutely does. He says in his word, he will never leave us nor forsake us. And as a matter of fact, we are in learning to live in truth. We're actually in the book of Joshua, and I think this is prevalent here, that I can share this with you, this particular verse, that I hope will allow you to be able to see from a different paradigm. Joshua verse one, I mean chapter one, verse five says, There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. This is powerful because you know, you're talking about the patriarch Moses, who has died and passed the baton to Joshua. Can you imagine how uncertain he might feel in that now his current current current status? You know, I'm sure that Moses left wide, big shoes for him to feel. Like, do you feel like you're filling somebody else's shoes? Well, don't feel that way because at the end of the day, you have your own shoes to fill. Hallelujah. God would not have chosen have chosen you if you not were not qualified or prepared for where you are. Hallelujah. And even when things don't seem like they're going the way you desire them to go, what did he just say in this verse? He says, He says, I will not fail thee. Hallelujah. What God brings us to, he will bring us through. Amen. Philippians verse chapter 1, verse 6. Like what he brings us to, he'll bring us through. At the end of the day, don't be discouraged. Hallelujah. Because there are four times in chapter one, God tells Joshua, be strong and good and have good courage. Amen. So that lets us know it's a hit, hit and clue, clue, it's gonna get difficult. Amen. It's going to get difficult. But you have to know, even though they can't see you, even though they don't honor you, even though they don't clasp for you, even though they don't celebrate you, God sees you. Hallelujah. And at the end of the day, the fact that he sees you, you got to get to the place where that is enough. And that's nine times out of ten, what the test is about. Hallelujah. Now I hope that you're taking notes in your journal still, even though we it's just being presented differently than it was, just being audibly heard. I still want to challenge you, continue to write to yourself, you know. Take down the nuggets in your book so you can go back and look at it over and over again from season to season. Hallelujah. Look, he said, he said, I'm coming back to the same verse. He says, There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of your life. Amen. So while you think, well, you don't take on take on their perception of yourself. Like it is a thing. Like you can begin to see yourself the way that they do. And what you this is what he says to Mo to Joshua. He said, Dim, look at the end of the day, I have equipped you where anybody that comes at you, they won't succeed. Hallelujah, because I have already made you victorious. I hope that you know that you are victorious in him. Hallelujah. I hope that you can see the diamond that is within. If you cannot, God is ready, he's ready, and he's he desires to come in and usher in to you. Value, hallelujah. Not just value, but what beauty for ashes, hallelujah. Isaiah, yeah, 61 verses 1 through 3. Look, all of those that he wants to give us joy for our morning, hallelujah. So let's make a let's let's let's let's make it our mission to to receive receive the fact that what I'm going through, God will bring me through it. Whatever's going on in my life, what this thing that is going on in my life, God is gonna bring me to through it. This is a part of the process. When you're refining, what did we learn? When in the refinement process, it's some things that is around you, that is on you, that's near you, that's in you, that's going on, that cannot go into the next season, it cannot survive the season, so it has to die off. If it does not die off, it will overtake what has grown. Who wants to take two steps and go back 10? Nobody. So you have to allow the refining process to be just that, allow it to refine you and know that he is right there with you. Hallelujah. Based on

Refinement Means Letting Things Die

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this verse, this single person we've read, he's right there with us. And he said, You won't fail. He said, Well, no, he says, he won't fail you. Hallelujah. And he said, I won't forsake you. Forsake you saying, I won't leave you. Amen. So that is our security, amen. That's our security blanket that says that he won't leave me. Now, what is a test? A test, I don't have a let's see. A test is let's get a a Webster's dictionary definition. Hallelujah. Um let's see, give me a second. Yep, I'm checking on my phone. A test is a procedure or examination used to evaluate the quality, performance, or reliability. This is a test. Hallelujah. So when we're being tested, then we are being evaluated for our quality, performance, or our reliability. How many of us think that we got it all together? And then when we get tested, we find out we

What A Test Is Revealing

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ain't got nothing together. Yeah, man. Hallelujah. Come on, somebody. I know I'm not the only one in the room, hallelujah. When the test comes, look, pretend you're the student and you I know all the answers, right? And you don't even study the night before the test. You know you're getting the test, you know you got a big test. You don't study anything because you said, I know I got the answer, I know it, I know it. Then you sit down to take the test and your mind goes blank. And you're sitting there like, oh, oh no, I don't know nothing. I don't know none of these answers. This is what it looks like sometimes. This is why we gotta be trying to tested. Hallelujah. Because God needs us to see what He sees, amen. Hallelujah. Most of the time we don't want to be honest with ourselves, we want to pretend like we got it all together, but the reality is we don't. Amen. This is why we are in need of a savior, amen. This is why we need uh his restorative power, this is why we need to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, hallelujah. Because the old man cannot handle the new, hallelujah. He desires for us to walk in the new, amen. Come on, somebody talk to me. Hallelujah. He desires for us to walk in the new, and the reality is what we have been through as we go from season to season and must be tested. Hallelujah. Because if we don't pass the test, we need to take the lesson again, hallelujah. Because you don't want to get you don't want to be skipping steps on the ladder as you go up. If you skip steps, you might just fall down and then have to start all the way over from the bottom to the top. Hallelujah. Come on, somebody. Does that make sense? I hope it does. Amen. Don't forsake the testing. Sometimes we don't need to be seen. Hallelujah. Amen. Do you know that the greatest growth that we can have is in isolation? Hallelujah. We talked about these things. The greatest growth that we have is when we cannot, when it's hidden. Hallelujah. This is what this whole month has been about. Hidden. It's been different than what it was over the last couple of months. But at the end of the day, it still comes back to the same thing. Our greatest level of growth comes when nobody can see. Amen. And you know, it's it's it's it has to be said because we live in a world where everybody wants to be seen. Hallelujah. This is why people they get are so stuck on their screens and social media and those things because people can see me. People can see what I want them to see. I can let them see only what I want them to see. They ain't got to see. I don't have to show them the bad parts of my life. I can use AI to change my whole appearance to make me somebody that I desire to be, not necessarily who I am. Amen. So the test is necessary. Hallelujah. So is the isolation, so is the waiting. So is XYZ. Hallelujah. So is so many things that we try to try to get around.

Why Hidden Seasons Grow You

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Shortcut. And then wind up having to eventually go all the way around Robinhood Bond to go the way we should have gone in the first place. Hallelujah. So today, what I want us to do is to really hone in on the fact that look, it is necessary. Amen. It is necessary. God's way is the right way. Hallelujah. Diamonds. Okay, in order for a diamond to even develop, it has to endure the heat. Because we understand, if we understand the process, and I'll just quickly remind you: the process of a diamond being developed, it is underneath the volcanic activity. It is down at the bottom of the volcano and it comes up. I'm talking about the minerals and the elements and things that make up the diamond, they're all brewing at the bottom of the volcano. And when the volcano erupts, it shoots up in the air. And when that lava comes to the ground and spreads and does what it does and cools off, all of those mineral deposits, they crystallize. And some of them come together and some of them they say separate, but up underneath all of that rock hard lava, these minerals, they are clustering, they are clarifying, and again, they're crystallizing and they're creating what you what we what miners and what people go from you know come from all over the world to go and find. Yeah, they got they come from all over the world, and they spend so much time searching for diamonds. And most of us think that diamonds are just clear. No, they have brown diamonds, pink

Diamonds Form Under Pressure

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diamonds, all color, amethyst diamonds, like all different color diamonds, yellow diamonds. But again, we have this idea that all diamonds look the same. No, they aren't. You got different colors, different sizes, different carrots, like they're all different. But the reality, but the thing is, they're valuable. Amen. And the only reason that some are more valuable than others is because of the imperfections, Jesus. Come on. Hallelujah. It's because of the imperfections that make them more valuable. Not just the imperfections, but the size of them. Hallelujah. We get weary at all of the troubles that we encounter in this life and we despise it. But in a diamond, it brings it value. Why we can't, why we need to be thinking as if we are the diamond, that we got all kinds of imperfections that that look at the end of the day, people need value, people don't appreciate. But when the man looks through that out, looks through that magnifying glass, and he's looking down up in the side of the diamond and looking at the cuts, and he said, ooh, ooh, this is worth thousands of dollars. Thousands of dollars. Now no little bit's worth thousands. Yeah, I pause intentionally. He's looking on the inside. That's where the value is. The diamond on the inside. Hallelujah. Yes, beautiful on the outside. But you gotta look within it to see all of those cuts uniquely put there. Hallelujah. Amen. To God be the glory. So look, the more cuts the better, baby. Amen. The more, the more trials and tribulations that we experience in life, the more we appreciate life. You hear what I'm saying? Hallelujah. We don't take life for granted. When we have been burned, when we've been shaken, when we've been hurt, when we've been uh you know experienced pain and suffering and all of this, when we get older, as we get older, we appreciate all of that, hallelujah, because we realize that if it had not been for the Lord on my side, where would I be? Come on, diamonds. Y'all talk to me. Hallelujah. Amen. It is a beautiful thing, but we realize the beauty of our pain. This is why he said, I'm I give you beautiful ashes, I give you joy for your morning. Hallelujah. Because Jesus said, Look, give all of that stuff to me. Then he said, He said, Seek God, seek me, seek me the kingdom first. He says, and my righteousness. He says, I'll add all of these things that you're searching for, that you're desiring. He says, I'll add that to you. All of that stuff is a bonus. Like at the end of the day, what you need, what you gotta have, what you really should have and be most concerned about is having Jesus and being able to walk in the fruit of his spirit. Hallelujah, because it has everything with everything to do with who you are and how you treat your brothers and your sisters. Hallelujah. The people that you know, amen. It has everything to do with that, that is what's most valuable, hallelujah, amen. And this is what he desires for us to see, hallelujah. Really, what real value is, hallelujah. So you will not forsake the testing and the trials, hallelujah. He doesn't want us to desire to despise it, we need to be thankful for it. Hallelujah, because it's meant to make us stronger, it's meant to make us better, hallelujah. It's meant to make us to appreciate what we have, to appreciate the things that that that we so often take for granted. Hallelujah. So this isn't gonna be long, and you know, from this this point on out, it's gonna be 20, 30 minutes, just because look, as we were before, you know, I want us to grab a hold of a concept and be able to apply it to our life right now. Hallelujah. I want us to be able to, I don't want us to have to overthink anything. We want it to be simple, hallelujah, and attainable to God be the glory. This is why I have finding your diamonds. I mentioned that last week. Finding your diamonds is it's gonna start on Monday and it's gonna cost $87 to attend this masterclass. It's gonna be held once a week on a Monday, eight o'clock Eastern Standard Time, and it's gonna run from eight-week seasons. One season lasts for eight weeks. You can pay for the whole season for $87, or you can go two months. One month, pay $50, go the next month, pay $50. That's it. I choose, I would rather people just pay for the whole thing because I want you to get the fact that eight is a number of a new beginning, and seven is it is finished. Hallelujah. So you bring your new beginning and finish it. Hallelujah. From start to finish, eight weeks, a new beginning. Hallelujah. We are defeating lies with the truth. We're bringing them into captivity, into the obedience of Christ. This is what we're doing, hallelujah. Don't look at the number, look at the at what's gonna come out of it. One dig at a time, transformation, hallelujah. Amen. If you've been gleaning from this, I promise you, you've shown up on glean from that. Hallelujah. So, what I want you to do is in the comments just say finding my diamonds that signals me, hallelujah, to send you a link. Yeah. So when this episode

Finding Your Diamonds Masterclass Invite

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comes out, I'm gonna be looking. Amen. I'm gonna be looking because I don't want you to miss it. And even if you don't come in until week two or three or four, it's still all of the recordings are gonna be archived so you can go back and look at all of them so you won't be missing anything outside of the opportunity for questions and answers. Hallelujah. So I'm about to go, hallelujah. And so let's pray. So, Father, I thank you so much for allowing me to be able to pour to your diamonds, God, as we pour and receive what it is you have for us. I pray, God, that each and every one are blessed by what they have heard. I pray, God, you'll continue to use me to your glory and that your will will be done. I pray, God, that you would lead God and order our steps in the way that we ought to go. Father, we love you, we thank you, we praise your holy and your righteous name. We give you glory, honor, and all the praise once again. In Jesus Christ's name we do pray. Amen, amen and amen. So, again, it was such a pleasure, a blessing to be with you one more time. And so, I hope that you have a great night. Yeah, hope that it's all that you desire it to be at the end of the day. I want y'all to remember, I'm gonna get my music and stuff together for the next time, yeah. But I want you to remember, you truly you are a diamond. Hallelujah. I know it's rough. We all know it's rough sometimes, hallelujah. Like be life on all of us, but God, amen. Somebody say it, but God loves you, amen. He will not leave you and it will not forsake you, amen. I intend on being here, amen. Look, I'm trying, I'm trying, y'all. Trying it to be able to show up to each, but you know, as I'm going along, God is, you know, he's making me. What's the word I want to say? He's he's making me each and every day realize that, you know, I can't do it all.

Prayer And Final Blessing

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You know, I gotta hand off the baton and let somebody else do some of the things that I've been doing for all of these years. Yeah. Because I at the end of the day, I just want to please him. Hallelujah. And, you know, you get older, you do you get wiser, hallelujah. So uh I want y'all to remember and don't you forget it that you are a diamond, hallelujah. It might be rough, but you're still a diamond, all right? So y'all make sure y'all come on back with me next week, and y'all have a great and blessed day or night. Hallelujah. Blessings and love from me to you. Y'all have a great night.