Seasons Of Your FaithSample

 Winter

After you have gone through the process of change fall has brought, you’ll begin to look for signs of spring; thinking that God will bless you since you have followed his instruction and promise. But the truth is, winter is actually in the perfect position. If we went directly from changing our lives and trusting God to an immediate shower of blessings, we’d begin to thank ourselves and think we were the only reason for making it through the trials and discomforts of change. He is the one who brings us through everything and brings us to everything. All of the pain brought on from change will cause us to doubt whether God is still with us or if he even had his hand on us through everything. “Was I really supposed to quit?” “Maybe we were good together because life doesn’t feel better without them”. Doubt is a normal part of life, but the best way to combat it is to lean even further on God and his promise on your life. Feelings will change like the wind and will leave you as confused as ever, but God’s Word is never-changing.

The truth is the only way to bring yourself out of winter and into spring is to trust and fall back on God. If you try to do it on your own it will be like putting a bandage on something that needs a cast. God will heal you deep to your soul and heart, and use that hardship to pull you into something even greater than you thought you had before. Whereas if you keep trying to find your own remedy, you will end up with an infected heart. You’ll keep going through life with a smile even though deep inside something is still in pain, but you tell yourself you’re over it. Without even realizing you are pushing it deeper down, and the more you do, the further it will imprint on your entire life. Pretty soon you’ll find a trail of people you have caused pain upon because you didn’t take the time you needed to heal your own pains. Don’t be that person. Instead, spend the needed amount of time healing, and then use your trials to speak peace into other people’s lives, because you will quickly realize that when you’re focusing on helping other people, your own pain will be less of a problem. It is so easy for us to dwell on what hurt us instead of looking at how it made us stronger.

When looking at the seasons metaphorically as followers of Christ, it is important to remember what this season really means to us. This is the time of year where we remember the birth of Jesus Christ, who left his home in Heaven in order to give us hope that we aren’t going through life abandoned from our Creator. He didn’t just send his son to earth like a parent would send their child to a summer camp; there was a very clear purpose for Jesus coming to earth. Therefore, we can choose to change our perspective to think of winter as the season of giving, making resolutions for months to come, gratefulness, and closeness to the ones who have loved us. 

Winter is a time for God to clear out all the bad in our lives, even if it looks good to us, and prepare our hearts for something new. Just as the trees are dead and covered with snow, so is the relationship that wasn’t benefiting you or the job that was dragging down your spirit. I spent a lot of time focusing on winter because this is the season I feel we need the most encouragement, because more often than not this season leaves us feeling hopeless. But with the grace and love of God, we can get through anything and everything. Our eyes are not fixed on what we experience in this world, but instead on the promise of everlasting life with our Father, and if that is not enough to get us through I don't know what would be. And most importantly, winter doesn’t last forever; although at times it feels that it does. The beautiful part is that once the old has died, there is room for new growth.