My favorite season is fall. I love fall because it’s soccer season, but especially because of how beautiful nature is. It’s sad that fall is one of the shorter-lived seasons, as it usually lasts a solid 3 weeks. Everything just seems so right about fall. The perfect weather. The crisp air. The changing colors. I just love that nature never hurries. It’s always perfect in timing and everything is accomplished. I love that I live in Michigan where there are four distinct seasons. There’s beauty in every one (yes, even in spring :P). I’m so blown away by how seasons set up this beautiful analogy to life. Winter is a dark and cold time, whereas summer is bright and warm and freeing, and then you have spring where dead things are coming back to life, and fall brings about the changes necessary for the next season to come. We go through seasons in our life. We go through winters, summers, all of them. Let me tell you about the season of life I’m currently in.
Seasons are funny, especially in Michigan, because you never know exactly when the next season is gonna come. You might have snow in October, but you might have an 80-degree day. So, it’s like when is winter actually coming?! Similarly, it’s practically impossible to predict when the next season of life will come. I think it’s safe to say the minute our season changes is one of the hardest parts of it all. We go from a time of joy and confidence to a dark place in an instant. It’s hard to adjust and know how to go about this new season you’re in.
I never thought I’d be in the current season I’m in. I’m in a season of confusion. I’m in a season where the things around me aren’t familiar. I’m in a season where I’m uncomfortable. I’ve spent a couple weeks questioning why God has me in this particular season. It’s a season where I’ve been saying, “I’ve done everything right, this isn’t fair God.” I told myself at the beginning that I couldn’t blame God. I think that’s what a lot of us Christians do immediately. We turn our fists to Heaven and say, “I don’t deserve this.” (Side note- I find it ironic that we are so quick to turn to God when things make us upset, yet in the previous season of our lives when everything was peachy-keen, we barely gave Him the time of day.) I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t putting the blame on God. Seasons are difficult because of the sin that has polluted our world. The big question is how do we interact with our Father in these difficult seasons. Do we close up and blame Him? Or do we come with open hearts ready to learn through another season of life? Steffany Gretzinger from Bethel Music said something that changed my perspective on my season. She said in a rough time of her life that she was praying to the Lord that He would raise her levels of awareness above the situation she was going through. She explained that if that were to happen she could look down on her situation and essentially see it through God’s eyes. She was able to recognize that she couldn’t control everything. She recognized that what she thought belonged to her was actually God’s. She learned that her situation was under God’s provision. I’ve attempted to display this attitude through this season of my life. I’ve been praying that same prayer and trying to see this through God’s eyes. This makes it easier to accept the things that are happening, and to truly put trust in God.
In this season, I want to say, “Lord, I’m not letting this situation define me, but I want you to use it so that I can become more like you.” It’s hard when you think you have your life planned out and God takes you a totally different direction. The hardest thing, but also the most critical thing for your growth, is how you respond to it. Do we have the ability to accept what we don’t understand? Are we able to see God’s plan when things don’t go the way we hoped they would? In this season, I’m learning that I can’t control things in life. I’m learning that that control I held onto belongs to God. I’m learning to not pray away my situation. I’m learning to respond in a way that allows the Holy Spirit to fill me with all the things I need to complete this season of life. My prayer throughout this season has been, “Lord, I’m not asking you to take away the pain. I’m asking you to show me the purpose of the pain. Reveal to me why I’m in this season. I don’t understand, but don’t let my lack of understanding affect my trust for You in this situation.”
It’s so much easier said than done. It’s easy to say that we will respond this way when life gets rough. But we quickly learn that we will never be prepared for life’s curveballs. That’s what makes life beautiful and also painful.
I’ve learned many things through this season. Things that will take up many more pages in the future. But for now…
The most prominent thing I’ve learned in this time is to solely lean on Christ my rock. Through an ever-changing world, with people who come and go, with opportunities that are taken and passed along, with ups and downs, there is one Constant, who will NEVER not be there. I cannot stress it enough. He’s there when you think He’s there. He’s there when you don’t even care if He’s there. He’s there when you win a national championship. He’s there when you lose a loved one. He’s there. He’s there. He’s there. And you wanna know what? He doesn’t wanna be anywhere else other than right there with you! He’s not leaving. Ever. No matter the season. That should give you a peace that surpasses all emotions of any season. Sometimes it takes us a whole season to realize that He even was there, but He’s always faithful, and that’s something that never changes. He’s in it all. He’s above it all. And He’s with you through it all. Praise be to God.
-Beth