Sometimes like Mr. Tumnus in "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe", we feel as if it will be "always Winter; never Spring". But let the Holy Spirit bring refreshment and encouragement to your heart this day. For I don't know the circumstances you're going through, but He does. And He loves you so much that He wants you to know that He's never left you, that He has you in the palm of His hand and you are under the shadow of His wing. He is here to speak tenderly to you in your winter season. And as a child of God, an heir of His salvation, He takes the time to send you an "Heir mail" message during your time of tribulation and trials.
I found myself pondering the upcoming Winter season here in Michigan and how Winter has always been a very dark place for me emotionally. In short, it's not my favorite season of the year. Difficult driving, cold and gloomy days just don't create a happy place in my heart.
Yet, as I continued to ponder, a thought occurred that with Winter comes the promise of Spring; to look beyond Winter this year and focus on our upcoming Springtime. I just love Spring! As soon as the crocuses start popping their multi-colored heads through the snow and the mourning dove begins to coo, I know that Spring is almost ready to display her fresh, new, lush displays of colors from every color spectrum as flowers bloom, grasses green and trees bud.
One of my favorite verses is found in Song of Solomon, Chap. 2:10-13 "My beloved spoke, and said to me: 'Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land."
And then we turn back to Ps. 23:1-2 "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters, He restores my soul...."
The writer of Ecclesiastes puts it this way in Chap. 3:1, "To everything there is a season, a time for every matter or purpose under heaven;...."
After years and years of one trial after another, and much weariness, we are in a new season of our lives. My oldest son is about to be married in March...in the Spring. We are overjoyed for them! My youngest son is attending culinary school and seems to have never been happier. After years of physical ailments and surgeries one after the other, I am finally pain free and off all narcotics! The Lord seems to be ushering in a new season of life for our family, and I've been searching His heart in deeper measure.
I can't tell you that I prayed everyday during these many trials. For four years I turned my back on the Lord, but by His grace and mercy, He restored me to Himself, and since that time, have continued to look to Him for His grace during my life. I would pray, but my prayers seemed very weak and pitiful. I thank God for the people in my life who prayed faithfully for me and my family over the past two decades during the dry, desert times...which were many and seemed unending.
But what I also learned through these times is how the Lord remembers that He made us out of dust. Jesus lived in an earthly body, so He knows how it feels to "go through life" on this earth. He experienced much more than we ever have...unto the shedding of His blood...which we have not had to suffer. But in understanding our human frailties, He now sits at the right hand of God, The Father, ever making intercession for the saints. This means that no matter your circumstances, Jesus is praying for you before God, The Father. I've also learned that "Jesus, Help!" is a prayer. And I learned that when I was too weary, the Lord in His goodness, mercy and compassion, gave me scriptures to encourage my heart along the way.
But now, there is a shift. Not just a change in events, but I sense a newness and a shift in my heart; that the Lord is doing a "new thing" in our lives. Is. 43:18-19 states, "Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert."
So as I reflected on our many, many years of trial, I thought of others who are experiencing tribulations and how sometimes, hope of emerging at all, let alone intact, seems less than a fading glimmer. But He's here to encourage your heart.
I posted the following on Facebook yesterday:
"Sensing someone needs encouragement this day....For those of you whom God is taking you through a season of trials (months - years...getting through one trial only to surface as the next tidal wave hits), the Valley of Achor, the Valley of the Shadow of Death, "always Winter; never Spring", where there seems as if there will be no end....know that there will be a day coming of rich fulfillment. Our task is to stay obedient and...faithful to the Lord and not turn away as the devil would have us to do.
We have a choice in the Valley....we can choose to turn our back on God, or we can look to Him as one who sticks closer than a brother. For there WILL BE a day when He brings you OUT OF THE FIRE to rich fulfillment as is His promise in Ps. 66:10-13 (Amp.) "For You, O God, have proved us; You have tried us as silver is tried, refined, and purified. You brought us into the net (the prison fortress, the dungeon); You laid a heavy burden upon our loins. You caused men to ride over our heads [when we were prostrate]; we went through fire and through water, but You brought us out into a broad, moist place [to abundance and refreshment and the open air]." The NKJV describes this as a "place of fulfillment".
Rejoice and be glad for He has not forgotten you. You are in the palm of His hand, and as He takes you through His plan, no weapon formed against you shall prosper!"
Praise God and Praise God! He alone is taking you through His plan for your life for His Kingdom Glory. And while He takes you through, nothing, absolutely nothing separates you from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
Isaiah 60:20 gives us hope in the midst of winter: "Your sun shall no longer go down, nor shall your moon withdraw itself; for the Lord will be your everlasting light and the days of your mourning shall be ended."
Rejoice and be glad dear child of the living God for He SHALL bring you into rich fulfillment and He gives you the promise of Spring in Jesus' Name. Hallelujah! Praise God!
Ever yours in Christ,
Crista
CMSimmons52@aol.com
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