Sometimes when God wants to lead a soul to a greater holiness he will hold back on giving the consolations that he usually does. Just as he prunes a tree to make it grow better it hurts at first but then later on the tree is much more beautiful.
I know this. Anyone who has walked with Jesus will know this not too far into the journey
But being human means we will not always know it... in our hearts. The head knows, but the heart
as the Word says
is "deceitful above all things and desperately wicked" (Jeremiah?)