When the Changing of Seasons is Painful

(From the Best of Joying in the Journey
and Guest Post for (in)courage)

I walked outside the other morning to see new growth on a plant that was beyond burned by our only freeze this year. I’m always in awe of how God works for our good even through the most difficult changes and arduous seasons of life. Looking down upon this miracle of the new green growth, I thought about one of my own.

It was a cool January evening when I checked all the doors to make sure they were locked and then turned out the lights on 15 happy years.

Warm tears rolled down my cheeks as my car rolled out the driveway — away from the home and the neighborhood where my children grew up, away from dear friends, away from the church I loved, and away from family and a lifetime of memories.

A new job. A new city. A freshly empty nest. All the elements needed for my perfect storm.

Wisdom pointed her finger to go, but with no certainty of return. Let’s just say it was a hard season.

Change. None of us like it. It’s different. It’s uncomfortable.

I wonder if Moses felt the same way the first time he left Egypt ?

Fleeing for his life, he left everything he ever knew and loved. He left the comforts of the familiar for the bitter taste of the unfamiliar and ended up on the far side of a desert tending sheep for the better part of 40 years. A slight detour from his purpose of delivering his people, from slavery. (Exodus2:15-23)

He probably thought this is it. The end of the road. I wonder if it made him sad?

But it was only a season. A new beginning actually.

And that’s the way it is.

Seasons come and seasons go. Some are grand, and frankly some are grim. Some we wish would never end. Some we feel never will and we wish they would. Some seasons are messy while others are just plain messed-up.

Friends tell us this too shall pass but we still wonder when, and we wonder why?

Though these changing seasons may appear chaotic at times, God has a reason for every season in our life. Each one with its own purpose builds on the last and prepares us for the next.

Just as God tilts nature, changing fall to winter and winter to spring to reflect His glory sprouting new growth, He allows our world to tilt a little to bring about changes in us that we might be better reflections of Him. There is a unique rhythm to it all. God’s perfect timing. God’s perfect plan.

Seasons push us towards our purpose notwithstanding the detours we take along the way. And even in those, God works them together for our good. For it’s from these detours we learn that the most powerful lessons often come out of the most painful places.

Maybe you feel like you just took a detour to the far side of a desert or perhaps you locked the door on what you thought were the best years of your life. Take heart sweet friend, change isn’t bad it’s just different and necessary for new growth.

We may not be able to fathom the scope of God’s mighty plan, but this we can trust. God knows where we are and where we need to be. Being our personal GPS, He’s calculated our time and distance and knows our ETA. And you can be sure He’s working for us, in us, and through us, to get us there.

“Yet God has made everything beautiful in its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11)