Seasons.

Steps and Encouragement To Get Through a Harsh Season.

The timing of this season tells me it should be fall yet it does not feel like fall outside here. Normally, my outside porches would have already been decked out in pumpkins for a month but if I would have done that according to the “timing” of fall this year, they would have rotted if so.

In Texas, we had a really harsh season this past summer which started earlier than normal with some of the hottest temps on record, like triple-digit heat, the kind of heat that takes your breath away. We were also in a drought which complicated the heat even more.

It seems like fall is pushed back a little because of the summer’s harsh season. A little setback, you could call it. However, I know it’s coming since we did just get a cold snap, even though it only lasted a few days. I was able to put on a sweater, even if it was for a day. Also, I can look to nature to glimpse a sliver of hope, even if it's a little hope. The trees are turning their beautiful golden colors, the leaves are dancing to the ground, and the anticipation of a new season is felt in my heart.

I just recently started posting on Instagram again, from a long seasons break, not even thinking how my season looks so different from others. I quickly noticed how others were at the end of their fall season and some moving in to Christmas and winter. Yet, here I am still feeling like the end of summer. Others are experiencing the season that I should be in, the season that I am anticipating. To be honest, I shrunk back a little, thinking why did I even get back on Instagram. Why now?

So, I have a choice to make. Do I feel discouraged that others are way ahead of me? Does it make me get impatient? Do I make myself rush to the next season to catch up? Social media can surely make you question all that. In a world that feels like, now more than ever, is screaming louder than ever, “you need more, more is better, more is bigger, do more, be more, do this, do that, catch up, keep up, rush to the next!!!” Do you feel that too?!

Where is the simplicity in all that. It is so loud and distracting and will totally muffle out the still quiet voice of the Lord, which speaks peace, joy, patience, and contentment. A voice that calls out to lead us beside quiet waters, to lay down in green pastures, to restore our weary soul (psalm 23).

I have to look inward. I take things in that I see in the natural and ponder how can they relate to my life spiritually. I ask myself, “What’s the bigger picture here?” What is the perspective I want to place in my heart?”

The Takeaway.

If a season that we are “growing through” doesn’t quite look the same or feel the same as previous seasons, we can take a deep breath in (pause with me and breathe in/exhale) and remain in hope. Here’s how. Here are the steps I take…..

(1) I can remain in hope because I can shift my vision and see the signs that the next season will come. I can choose to hold those in front of my vision when the season gets long.

(2) I can remain content when I see others experiencing the “season” I want to be in, leaning into the perspective that God is never late (2 Peter 3:8,9). What looks like a delay in the natural could be exactly the place, the situation, the heartbreak, the setback where we are about to grow the most. That’s why I said earlier “growing through” because in my harshest seasons I’ve grown the most because of the perspective I’ve kept in my heart. We can look to nature to this very thing. Look at seeds that are planted in the soil, they grow a lot in total darkness.

(3) I can remain patient. I don’t become impatient because if I jump ahead before the time is right, like those pumpkins, it would be too early and rot may come or I could miss the wisdom and growth that I could gain that is strengthened through adversity.

This is coming from someone who had the hardest season of my life in 2022. I lost five family members within a year timeframe. As well as, experiencing a sudden health issue myself which completely altered my daily life. These things, I will share more about soon but I can speak with experience and a deep compassion to express to others.

To express, don’t give up, don’t grow weary, don’t rush ahead. Instead draw near to him ( James 4:8), shift your perspective, your focus, keep the vision in front of you (Habakkuk 2:2-3) and draw an inward peace because you are growing through it, you are going through it, you will make it to the other side. No season ever remains the same. Greatness, goodness, amazingness and so much wisdom and growth can still come from the most harshest seasons and the hardest places of adversity. Keep the hope. Keep the faith. Find the good. Enjoy the season you are in with your heart of joy and peace.