In Due Time

Ecclesiastes 3:1

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:

I have a daughter who doesn't have fond feelings toward winter. She's loving that the winter snows are holding off and fall seems to continue on.She dislikes the snow and the way it makes travel difficult. Her smile leaves her face when her car is buried in snow or covered in ice. She doesn't see the beauty of snow because of the trials it presents.  She gets depressed as the winter season wears on keeping her from being out in the sunshine. It is a real battle for her to stay positive through the darkness of winter. She's definitely a flip-flop wearin', sunshine sittin' kind of girl. The only reason she survives winter is because she knows spring and summer will dawn her doorstep in due time. And so, she doesn't lose hope!

Life is full of seasons.  I don't mean our weather related seasons, I'm talking about the spiritual seasons of life. We have springs of planting seeds and preparing for God's work in our life and the lives of those around us. We have summers where, spiritually, we are blooming and those around us are coming to life in Christ. We have autumn seasons where we bear fruit and see God's hand of abundance. And unfortunately there is winter.

Winters come in times of trial. Times where we feel alone or depressed. Times where our hope wants to hide and our spirit longs to be refreshed. Winters are hard times spiritually. Perhaps it's a season where God feels silent or our aching heart feels as though it can bear no more.

Winters. They are hard seasons. But like my daughter, we can get through winters because we have hope. Our hope is in an ever-faithful Father. Throughout scripture we are encouraged not to grow weary, to keep hoping, to persevere. God knows we will face seasons. His word encourages us to endure. And like all seasons, they will come to an end in due time.

I don't know what season you're in now, but if it's a spiritual winter I encourage you to hang on! Don't stop praying even though your answer hasn't come. Keep fighting in your illness. Pray for your marriage and your children until you see fruit. When the answers are buried in the snows of your winter, dig deeper! Get out His Word and dig until you uncover renewed hope!

Dear Jesus,
We struggle in our winters. Help us to hang on to the Hope that we have in you. Hope of eternity spent with you. Lord, bring glimpses of hope into our broken lives. Draw us into your word with a desire to know you intimately. Lord, give us patience as we wait for the spiritual season to change. Amen