Picture this; springtime, the sun finally rising on a dark and cold season. Finally, you can feel the warm sun caress your face, the air is filled with the sweet sound of birds singing, colors begin to brighten, the world begins to come back to life.

Our lives are full of seasons, some are filled with the hope of a new day and others tend to silence your soul, bringing you to beg for the beginning of a new season.

The season we are in, rain or shine, they shape who we are. The spring season that you pictured above, it’s like drinking in the water of life after a dark and difficult season that almost drained every piece of you.

I’ve experienced my fair share of seasons, and in my time I have learned that you can’t have one season without the other.

You see, what makes spring time so sweet? How do we know that this is good, this is life? It’s because we’ve experienced the opposite, the season of life that was rebuilding us by starting from square one. As you might have learned, going back to square one is far from painless.

My sweet spring season, let me tell you how the flowers began to grow again.

You see recently I was in a winter season, I experienced the cold. This season, filled with silence, pain, even death. It was enough to bring anyone to their knees.

I’m a glass half-full kind of person, but let me tell you my cup seemed empty. Even as the words of my own logic and the logic of those around me said, “It’s going to be okay.” The peace behind that statement was absent. My faith, it did not waver, but my heart was tired. The ways of the world seemed to take a firm hold of me, and all that was visible was loss.

In this, my heart cried for the presence of God, the only place I knew I could find refuge during this storm. Yet I still wandered, waiting for an encounter.

My wandering took me to Sacred Ground. Here my season ended, here I, like many others, encountered Jesus.

Let me tell you how great God’s love is.

Picture this, a stormy sea, the kind that puts the most experienced sailor on his knees. Picture yourself as the sailor, weathering the storm. You’re now on your knees, surrendering. The darkness is consuming, fear sets in, your hope is dimming with every second that passes. Then you manage to lift your head once more, and on the horizon, you see a light. The light draws closer… you are being rescued. Joy, peace, hope… your cup overflows.

This is Jesus, this is the encounter, this is the end of a season.

Just as the year begins and ends, so do the seasons of our lives. Some are more pleasant than others, all are necessary.

So here is my advice, weather the storm. It will not last forever this I promise you.

Isaiah 40:31 says “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

And all will sing out Hallelujah because this is truth friends, I’ve felt it. He restores the soul. He will give you hope, He will give you rest. So be still, because just as the flowers bloom and come to life after a cold and dead winter, so will your hope be renewed.