Spring is Knocking...

I am tired of winter! I’m over the snow, the ice, the delays, and the closings. I’m ready to see the flowers blooming, wear short sleeves and walk barefooted in the grass. It seems that this year, winter has dragged on for what seems like forever. It’s been colder for longer than I can remember and I’m ready for the new season. Aren’t you? I mean, winter started like usual but progressively got colder. Then every now and then, it would be a warm, sunny day and then back to the cold. It occurred to me that life can be like that. You arrive in a season and it appears to be normal but then it starts to get hard and unfamiliar. You certainly didn’t expect it and are not really prepared for it. You keep pushing through it but you see yourself growing cold and tired of the season. When those high moments happen, you think ‘Yes!! It’s over’ but then something else comes up and you’re right back in the midst of an attack. This morning, the Lord told me ‘Spring is on the way.’

Last night, I heard this encouraging sermon that reminded me that I was too close to quit. It was a faith charging word and I had it in my spirit when I woke up this morning. The question is though how do you take that charge and push forward when you are faced with the same realities. Do you know what I mean? How do you take that declaration and keep going when your situation hasn’t changed. The answer is relatively simple - you let the old season prepare you for the new one! Look at Isaiah 55. I almost couldn’t believe it when God sent me to this passage of scripture but I got it! God was telling the people of Israel through Isaiah about a coming Savior and the joy and freedom of salvation. I have read this passage tons of times. It’s one of my favorite! But God used it today to show you that this season you are experiencing is not without purpose. You see, God is doing a work in you that you most likely do not understand or it’s taken you a long time to understand. It’s been hard and painful but guess what, when it’s over you will be better for it. I know, it’s so hard to even imagine that when you are in the midst of your winter but read what God said. “I don’t think the way you think. The way you work isn’t the way I work.” God’s Decree. “For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think. Just as rain and snow descend from the skies and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth, Doing their work of making things grow and blossom, producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry, So will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty-handed. They’ll do the work I sent them to do, they’ll complete the assignment I gave them.” (Vs. 8 – 11, MSG) Do you see that? This cold, rainy season is producing some things in you, things that will last and feed others. It won’t end until the work is done but the exciting thing is that God’s word is the same way! The promises that He has made you during this time have got to come to pass. They have got to accomplish what God intended them to. Spring is on the way!

I love how God works. I love that He doesn’t leave you wondering if He will do it. He assures you and gives you a word to hold on to. God goes on to seal that promise of a new season in the last 2 verses of Isaiah 55. “So you’ll go out in joy, you’ll be led into a whole and complete life. The mountains and hills will lead the parade, bursting with song. All the trees of the forest will join the procession, exuberant with applause.  No more thistles, but giant sequoias, no more thornbushes, but stately pines— Monuments to me, to God, living and lasting evidence of God.” (V. 12-13 MSG) Sounds like a shift to me! When God does the work, you will always come out better. You will know that what you have endured has prepared you for a season of restoration and renewal. You see, that’s what spring is all about. It’s a recovery period from the winter. It’s peace after your mind has been attacked. It’s healing when your body has been tormented by cancer. It’s joy when everyday has been sad. Just wait, your new season will be planned and shaped by God into something that will show off His power. Are you ready? Your spring is on the way!

AMEN