daily devotional

There are seasons in life. Seasons of Spring time growth, seasons of Summer sunshine and success, seasons of Fall beauty and peace, then there are seasons of Winter. This is the time in life where things are plain old hard. Where the struggle is real, the fight is exhausting and the attacks are relentless. This is the Winter season of life. Maybe you’re in one right now. You certainly know if you are.

And maybe this Winter feels like it’s been four seasons long for you and you’re beginning to wonder if this will really ever pass. Will change come? Will the load you carry lighten? Will the sun shine again?

Honey, since the beginning of time one thing has always followed the season of Winter … Spring. And it is promised, your Spring will come. Winter will not last forever. It won’t hurt this bad forever. It won’t always be this hard. Progress will not always come this slow. This is just a season, and seasons ALWAYS CHANGE.

Everything in your life is in the process of change. Everything. All those hardships and struggles are changing. You can have hope. But also remember everything that is good and right in your life at this moment is also in the process of change and it won’t always be this way. You won’t always have what you have today, for the good and for the bad.

Here’s what we can’t afford to do … we can’t afford to waste what is good today by focusing on what is wrong today. There will always be something wrong. Something that doesn’t work. Something that worries or frustrates you. Something uncertain. Something that did go wrong, may go wrong or could go wrong. But right in the middle of all those somethings is the fleeting goodness of your life right now. Don’t miss this.

Life is constantly in a state of change and I’m discovering in my 40’s my body is now in a state of slow and gradual deterioration. I’m not being negative, I’m being real. My eyes no longer see as good as they once saw. My knees don’t quite feel the way they used to feel. My skin is now growing deep lines and creases from signs of age and my hair glistens in a new highlight state of silver.

AND I’M STRESSING OVER NONE OF IT. Get your perspective right. What an honor it is to get to live long enough to see this! What a blessing it is to be gifted with the time we have been given and a body that is still trying.

This is for my sisters in a Winter that seems 4 seasons long. In a time where you would just give anything to feel the warmth of the sun and see the signs of a new season on the horizon. To my sisters who have been reaching and climbing and you’re always second guessing if you’re good enough to ever get there.

THERE’S ONE REASON TO KEEP ON BELIEVING … HIS LOVE.

His love for you. Individually, purposefully, wholly for you.

His love is the reason why you keep on believing even when you feel like giving up. Because his love for you comes with a good plan over you, and the power to make it happen.

If you’re a mother, you know the power of your love for your children. Your love is the reason your child can trust you’ll be there. Your love is the reason your child knows they’re safe with you. It’s your love.

And this is the love you are surrounded by, given to you by the Creator of the Universe. The master over all loves you with a ground shaking, mountain moving, sea parting kind of love. And because of his love, you have reason to keep on believing. Reason to keep on showing up in the hard winter seasons of life. Because you know his love will produce Spring.

There’s a hunger in your heart, a fire in your soul, a desire deep within you, and his love put it there. These Winter seasons of hardship, struggle and setback threaten what is within you with the shadow of doubt. You begin to doubt if things will ever change. You doubt if you would ever be capable of more. You doubt if you could be good enough, strong enough, or even worthy.

Let his love come breaking through and shine his light on those shadows of doubt. Yes this will change because this season will not last forever. Seasons always change, and this season is no different. The harder your winter, the sweeter your Spring! Yes you are capable of more. Girl you would blow your own darn mind if you fully understood the potential within you. Yes you are good enough, you are strong enough and you are worthy because JESUS lives within you.

I mean seriously, what more do you need? The answer is yes. YES. His love says YES.

A favorite song of mine on the BIG Life Morning’s Spotify playlist is “Reason” by Unspoken. I listened to it 4 times in a row this morning so of course it has impacted today’s devotional.

My favorite part says:
If we could pull back the curtain of Heaven
We would see His hand on everything
Every hour every minute every second He’s always been in it
Don’t let a shadow of a doubt take hold
Hold on to what you already know

Oh, if we could pull back that curtain of Heaven and see how his hand has truly been in everything. Every hour, every minute, every second he has always been in it. But we don’t always see it and we don’t always feel it. Doubt creeps in and casts a shadow over our truth and this is when we begin to question.

While we may not understand the details and see the big picture plan of how this is all working together into something good, we can hold on to one thing we already know. The one truth that changes everything …

GOD
SOOOOOOOOO
LOVES
YOU

So much, that he gave his one and only son for you. His son’s life in exchange for your future. His son’s life to prove his plan for you. His son’s life to cover your shortcomings, failures, hang-ups, quirks and sins with a blanket of wholeness that says YOU ARE WORTHY. YOU ARE ENOUGH. YOU ARE CHOSEN. YOU ARE LOVED.

This is where our hope comes from. This is where our courage comes from. Courage to brush ourselves off and try again. Courage to believe in the middle of the dang blizzards of life, a new season is coming, so we’re getting ready for it!

Romans 5:5 says “And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.”

You can get your hopes up that God is doing something there. THIS HOPE WILL NOT DISAPPOINT YOU. You will not be let down or put to shame.

Stop doubting what God started in you. He put that hunger in you for a reason. He started a fire within your soul for a purpose. His love is the only reason you need to keep on believing.

The music video of this song called “Reason” by Unspoken tells the story of a little girl with a heart for adventure. A girl with a golden helmet who is constantly falling down and getting hurt. Defeat has met her every try. If you watch the video to the very end, you see it’s the love of her Father that gives flight to her dreams. Oh dang, it’s good!

It’s a visual of Romans 5: 3-5 (MSG) which says: “There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!”

All this time God hasn’t been trying to tell you your dreams are ridiculous. He hasn’t been saying you’re not good enough. He hasn’t been trying to convince you to give up. No, this entire time, all the setbacks, all the failures, all the delays and frustrations have been a loving father who says LET ME HELP YOU.

He’s saying I have made a way and I will show you the way, just trust me in the process when it doesn’t make sense. You can’t see through the curtain of heaven right now, but His hand is on everything. Every minute of your life he is in it.

You may not have a lot of other reasons to keep showing up. You may have exhausted every logical means to keep going. You may feel like giving up. You may have thought you were ready to give in. But here it is, smacking you right in the forehead today, the one reason you won’t give up … HIS LOVE.

Let his love be the reason you dare to believe the hunger in your heart and the fire in your soul isn’t nonsense. It isn’t ridiculous. And it isn’t impossible … because the one who loves you says NOTHING is impossible with him.

May his love fill you with courage today. May you be strengthened to keep believing. May you know without a doubt he is with you and he is working in every detail with tremendous love. May his love be the reason you believe in Spring again, right smack dab in the middle of a season of Winter. This is all about to change.