Changing Seasons

As I was listening to a sermon, I could not help, but to reflect on the following questions that the preacher had asked, “Have you ever been in a season where stuff keeps happening back to back, one thing after another? Have you ever felt like life was trying to take you out by wearing you down? Have you ever felt like you’re doing everything you can do to hold on to faith, but you feel like your faith is fragile in this season?”

Throughout our life, we are going to experience seasons of change that we cannot control. I know how it feels to be in a season where things in my life kept happening back to back and all I wanted was a moment to breathe. I wanted God to press pause on the remote control of my life. I have felt overwhelmed with everything happening around me that there was no peace in me. Believe me when I say, it can be hard to not only have faith, but to remain faithful. But, God has created these seasons so that we can rely on Him. I have come to learn that if I wanted my circumstances to change, He had to first start with changing my heart. Sometimes healing comes through tears. Sometimes it will take sleepless nights to know that He is near. Sometimes you uncover the depth of God’s love and compassion in your season of need. You will appreciate the good times after enduring some of the most difficult and painful ones. The trials of this life are only His mercies in disguise. His grace is sufficient in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). We don’t always understand the seasons we are in and why it is happening. However, it is important that we do not lose sight that God is with us and He remains faithful in the midst of our changing seasons.

I read somewhere that, “The season of change is not punishment, it is an answer to your prayer.” As I reflect on some of my prayers, what I thought were seasons of brokenness and loss were seasons of breakthrough, a stretching of my faith and drawing me closer to God. It was in seasons of transition (and some uncomfortable ones at that) that God was answering my prayers. You may be coming out of a season or you may be walking into one, but I want to encourage you that when seasons are changing, cling to the One who is unchanging. Rest in the unchanging love of God and find comfort in knowing that He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). Resist the urge to define the future by what you are experiencing in the now. We are called to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). The love of God and His Word has the power to keep us safe in every season. Beloved daughter, press in to the love of your Heavenly Father. When life is trying to take you out by wearing you out, not only can we cast our cares on God, but we are instructed to do so. You can find rest in the Lord by taking everything– your burdens, your worries, your anxieties– to Him in prayer and He will sustain you (I Peter 5:7; Psalm 55:22). There is nothing too small or too great that God cannot handle. He is faithful and He keeps His promises in every season. I pray you find encouragement in the following verse: And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast (I Peter 5:10, NIV).