In awe of difficult times/hardship?

Solution 1:

Can it (the word 'awe') be included in describing difficult times?

From Cambridge Dictionary:

​a feeling of great respect, usually mixed with fear or surprise

As in:

I was too much in awe of him to address him directly.

and

Too much in awe of his father to make him a confidant, he wrestled in the gloomy solitude of his own mind.

Yes, one can be in awe or awestruck in difficult times. Awesome: from 17th century church use meaning “profoundly reverential" to later meaning “inspiring awe", now we have a word meaning a feeling of great respect, usually mixed with fear or surprise: