Blissful breezes billowed down back roads beckoning the beginning of autumn this week. With a new season's inception, there is immense anticipation.

Anticipation of adventures awaiting, friendships yet forged, forgiveness yet released, dreams not yet reality. I don't know why, but as the seasons are beginning to change I am more expectant than ever.

Perhaps it is due to living my wildest of dreams at the beginning of this year. After living and working in Africa for three months, I know literally anything is possible, and that pushes me deeper into seeking a new dream. Perhaps it is because of this leap of faith that is graduate school. I am starting a new level of education, a new area of study, at a school whose campus I have never even set foot on. It is terrifying and exciting all at once. Perhaps it is the conclusion of some friendships and relationships, and the hopeful expectation of new ones that await with this next chapter. Perhaps it is simply the comfort I am learning in the midst of surrender.

In the midst of having little to no control over the countless changes occurring currently in my life, I rest in the assurance that God has a beautiful, wild, crazy plan. I may not know now what it is, where it will take me, when specific chapters will unfold, or who will be experiencing it with me, but I know it will be perfect in His timing.

Where do you find yourself at this season's change?

Are you expectant or anxious? Are you restless or peaceful? Are you hopeful or depressed? Are you looking forward to the memories you will make with friends or perhaps you are simply lonesome?

Perhaps the winds of this season's change seem more like the blustering, torrential gusts of Hurricane Hermine ransacking your peace of mind, rather than a calming, refreshing breeze stilling your heart. Change, whether welcomed or not, is never easy. But is often necessary.

Brave heart and Beloved, I pray you find peace amidst the change of this season. If you have not known peace and stillness before, you will encounter it deeply in the breezes and whirlwinds of this autumn. I hope the colors of the vibrancy of autumn set your heart a blaze with hope, imagination, expectation, and dreams.

Take time to breathe it in and just be. Take time to surrender it all.

I pray you find peace as the seasons change.