I wasn’t born in El Paso, but I soon learned to love the desert.  In the summer the cactus would become a home to bees and hummingbirds that found the sweet nectar in the cactus flowers.  I could see the ripened red fruit and many brave souls would make delicious jam.  All I got was lots of stickers!

I find that life has seasons as well.  Not the four seasons but times in life when nothing seems to be in our favor. It might be spring outside, but our life feels like its winter.  It’s dark and cold in the heart.  Nothing of spring or summer appears.  We get a discouraging phone call from a friend; a bad report from the Dr; our plans for a vacation fell though; a sick family member.

We no sooner get through one crisis or trial and another one comes to us.  Perhaps we are just holding our breath always waiting for the next bomb to drop or waiting to figure out what’s next in our life.

In the book of James, he has this to say: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. “   We ask God, why must I go through this?

 But James wrote that in our trials our faith will grow!   It ok to ask God, “What do You want to teach me through this?  What do You want me to do next? or how can I show my discipleship in this situation?”  No matter when our spiritual winter season comes or how long it lasts, we can be assured that it’s not, as Mr. Tumnus said in The Chronicles of Narnia, “Always winter, never spring.” 

“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” (Isaiah ). Even when we don’t know precisely what God is doing, even when we can’t see the seeds beneath the soil, we know they will bloom. Our season of helplessness will not last. Our faith will furnish us with joy and hope.

Hebrews reassures us, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure”

Here’s the thing: every season is essential for life and growth. That’s true of the physical and the spiritual. We need winter every bit as much as summer. Winter will come, but so will seasons of planting, growth, abundance, and harvest.  God truly does all things well. In every season of our life.   As wise Solomon said.  “There is a time for everything, and a season for everything under the heavens”.     May our hearts hold on to hope that the harsh winter season will pass.  The summer of faith has come.

                                                                                The Season of Hope!