In Northeast Ohio, winter weather can change swiftly from sunny and temperatures in the 60’s to temperatures in the 30’s with snow flurries in the same day! Sometimes it’s hard to know how to dress for the day. We make our plans, but bad weather many times changes everything. Weather is fickle, and even trained meteorologists can only “predict” the weather. There are so many variables, even so much as a shift in the wind pattern can change everything.
In the same manner, we may find ourselves in a season of life that goes from sunny, bright and stable one moment to gloomy, dark and frightening in the next! A bad report from the doctor, a wayward child, a loss of a job, a broken relationship…that phone call in the night…and just like that everything has changed. Thus is life. And no one is exempt. Just as the weather “is what it is” and we sure don’t have any control over it…so it is with life.
But, thankfully, when a dark season comes upon us, we do not have to be driven by the fierce, cold wind and trudge through it all alone. We serve a God who is very aware of every season in our life. The same God who set the boundaries on the earth and made both winter and summer, is the same God who sees right where you are today, He is the One who hears your prayers, bottles your tears, cheers you on and gives you the grace to walk through not only the sunny days but the dark days as well.
Weather may be unpredictable, but our God is the same, yesterday, today and forever! You can count on Him to walk with you through every season knowing that this is not forever, this too shall pass. It may be cold and dark today but brighter days are coming! Do not lose hope. Do not give up. Keep your eyes focused on the One you can surely trust. The One who not only orchestrates the boundaries of the seasons but also deeply cares and holds you in the palm of His Holy hand!
Julie Charlton (February 2016)