Seasons Change

We all have seasons in our lives....some better than others. I feel like I've had many this year. I've had a season of brokeness followed by a season in the desert and then finally a season of rejoicing for all God did in the latter. Now I'm in a season of growth and it's honestly a beautifully challenging time for me. But as you know..we're not always in the same season at the same time....which I think is such a merciful, gracious thing God does for us sometimes because when I couldn't walk 6 months ago....those that could held me up. And now that that season has passed and I feel like I've come out of the desert for now I've noticed that some of my dear friends around me are now in their own desert. As I'm able to reflect on my own recent time there and see them in the midst of theirs I am reminded of a line from a Caedmon's Call song that says "the valleys fill first". I always grab onto word pictures and that's always a refreshing one for me when the valley is where I find myself placed. Knowing that the valley is not where I will stay. While I think valleys and deserts...or whatever you want to call them.....serve a purpose in our sanctification process....that doesn't always necessarily make it pleasant and lacking of pain. Even though we know the pain is going to bring about something greater....in the midst of it....sometimes it takes everything in you to keep a crawl let alone a walk.
So as I look around me and observe the different seasons people are in....I think it's important to be reminded that seasons change....but it's all for his glory. Psalm 139:16 says that all the days ordained for me were written in His book before one of them came to be. So in the midst of a good season...or maybe a not so good season....we can still rejoice that we are exactly where we are supposed to be doing the things he has for us to do for his eternal purpose.
Acts 17:26 says that "from one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth, and he determined the times set for them and the exact places they should live." It goes on to say he does this SO that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us." He knows everything about this point in our lives and what it would bring for us.....so we can reach out and find him. I love how Jesus never yells out "hey you need me, so get over here" But he just allows circumstances to take place in our lives, he waits patiently....all to usher us into his presence because he loves us and desires for his glory to be known.
So sometimes he gives us "purposeful frustration" so that we would know him more and our desperation for him would become more evident. Further more this frustration fulfills Romans 8 saying that we have been "subjected to frustration, not by choice, but by the will of the one who has subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brough into the glorious freedom of the children of God." Paul says that he considers "that our present suffeing is not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us" He desires for us to walk so closely with him and his promise is that it will be glorious. That is a promise I am clinging to. A sweet friend of mine said recently "I want him to consume us all until we see nothing but him." I sat and thought about that statement for a little bit and then I just smiled and thought....that would be great. And I resolve that if it takes valleys and frustration to get there....that maybe my present suffereing isn't anything compared to the glory that is to come.
Sometimes we thnk if the circumstance just changes that we will then be satisfied. But how true is that? Maybe the source of my frustration in the circumstance is my heart is being unfilled and unsatisfied by the love and presence of an almighty God. We try to fix an unfixable problem- a God shaped hole that will never be filled by anything or anyone but Him. So maybe we shouldn't try to rush what God is doing in our seasons....good or bad....but take it as a reminder that a void exists in our souls without Him. In the midst of sittin in a valley that becomes our greatest hope, knowing we can't take another step without him. Even more, we find that when we abide in Him, we don't just survive, we thrive. We thrive to the point in which we overflow and bless others immensely. So for those that fill their void- that aching abyss- with Christ, it is then that life is truly lived and frustration-deep inner, aching frustration -becomes glorious.