The Seasons Were My Seasons

Coming from a tropical country with only two weather conditions, the dry (summer) and wet (rainy), I am blessed to have experienced the four seasons in the West. I arrived during the fall season in 1994. I remember how I liked seeing the leaves slowly turning orange. Then they eventually fell, and the trees lost all their leaves. Then winter came. I wanted to experience the snow for the first time, so I frequented the window to see if it was snowing already. The white surroundings were a beauty, but it was cold and slippery when the snow began to melt. After all whites and no greens everywhere I looked, the trees began to grow their leaves back. How fast it seemed that flowers bloomed every day. Spring is just beautiful.

The conditions I have experienced were like those of my spiritual seasons. It could be someone else, too. At some point in our lives, we were far away from God.

Disobedience was a falling away from my faith. I knew I needed the Lord in my life, but my rejection to His rebukes and corrections made me unable to see my purpose anymore. My disregard seemed fine to me at first, but led to self- inflicted hurts. Then I found myself with nothing more to offer Him but brokenness.

Then love went cold. I thought it was a hopeless season. The guilt wouldn’t let me go back to Him. I would always fear the punishment. It became hard to believe that nothing I had done had made Him love me less.

But what a loving God! He tilled the cold, dried patch of my heart until hope sprung forth. I was spiritually dead, and now am alive. Rebirth came. A time of growth and bearing fruit for the Lord. The Rescuer restored me. It was a season of celebrating the God of second chances and honoring the Lord who never gave up on me.

The devil is not happy when we turn to the Lord. His flaming arrows shoot at us causing us to go through a dry season of trust. But this should be a time of firm, unwavering and increasing confidence in the Lord that should be anchored in only Him by constantly fanning the flame of our faith. Lest fall and winter come back.

I am certain that God is always with us in any of these seasons, just like what I have realized going through each and every time. He is faithful in every circumstance. Conditions may vary, but He gives the same opportunity to us to call Him for help. Though many times we don’t, He does not turn His back on us. If we are not approaching God anymore, we may be approaching someone or something else. But God’s love remains unchanging, and His arms are open wide for His returning children.

“Come, and let us return to the Lord;

For He has torn, but He will heal us;

He has stricken, but He will bind us up.”