Love is beautiful—until it’s not.

At first, love feels effortless. Whether it’s in marriage, friendship, or the church, we imagine deep, lasting relationships will just happen—but then life happens. People disappoint us; expectations go unmet. We pour ourselves out and wonder if anyone even notices.

If you’ve ever felt that way, you’re not alone.

As we saw yesterday in the sermon, it happened to Jacob too. He worked seven years for Rachel, believing she was the love of his life. But on his wedding night, instead of Rachel, he got Leah. Betrayed…Humiliated…Blindsided! This wasn’t what he signed up for.

Maybe you’ve had your own Leah moment—when things didn’t turn out the way you expected, when someone you trusted let you down, when love felt more like labor than joy. Maybe right now, you’re wondering, “why is this so hard?”

But here’s the thing about Jacob’s story: God was in it, even in the pain. Especially in the pain.

Through Leah—through the heartbreak, the disappointment, the struggle—God was writing a better story than Jacob could have ever imagined. Because from Leah’s line, not Rachel’s, would come the Messiah. Jacob thought he was getting the short end of the stick, but in reality, he was stepping into something far greater.

John Flavel once wrote, “Providence is wiser than you, and you may be confident it has suited all things better to your eternal good than you could do yourself.”

That’s hard to hear when love feels exhausting. But what if the struggle isn’t a sign that something is wrong—what if it’s a sign that God is working?

Love That Grows in the Hard Places

Paul prayed in Philippians 1:9, “And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment.”

Not just that love would endure. Not just that it would survive. But that it would abound—expand, deepen, become something richer and more Christlike.

And here’s the hard truth: that kind of love doesn’t grow in comfort. It grows in the moments when we have to fight for it.

It grows in the husband choosing faithfulness when marriage feels dry.

It grows in the friend choosing to forgive instead of walking away.

It grows in the church member choosing unity over offense.

It grows in the person who keeps showing up, keeps loving, keeps trusting, even when it costs something.

Love is not just something we feel. It’s something we build. And sometimes, God builds it in ways we don’t expect.

Trusting God When Love Feels Like Labor

Does love feel hard for you right now? Has someone wounded you? Or are you tired of giving and not getting much in return? Perhaps you’re looking at your life, your marriage, your friendships, and thinking, “this is not what I signed up for.”

But what if you’re exactly where God wants you?

What if the love He’s growing in you through this season is deeper, stronger, and more Christlike than the love you would have had without the struggle?

Jacob thought his story had taken a wrong turn. But God had him exactly where He needed him to be. And the same is true for you.

Keep loving. Keep trusting. Keep showing up. Because the love that abounds more and more is the love that refuses to give up. And that’s the love God is forming in you.