Accepting the Season

January 28, 2016January 28, 2016 - Amy Leave a comment

Each and every October/Novemberish after the time change, I feel winter set in with its cloak of darkness. It happens so fast and it catches me off guard every. single. time. It’s only 4:30pm, how can it feel like midnight?! I spend days, even weeks wishing it were spring. I feel the need to ditch this premature middle-of-the-night feeling and enjoy the bike-riding-til-8:00pm feeling instead. I have a lot of trouble accepting the season.

How true is this same analogy with the seasons of life that we journey through? When I find myself elbow-deep in the sink with dishes that never end or at Kroger making a scene because I won’t let my 4 year-old eat a grape that she found on the floor, I tend to be fully aware of the season that I’m currently in. I notice the college student buying yogurt. She’s buying yogurt all by herself without a little person telling her they hate that kind or that they want M&Ms instead.

She is in a different season.

Or maybe I notice the mom with older children. She can leave her younger kids with the older while she and the husband go on a date. Built-in babysitters. A different season.

Then there’s the friend who has this great job making a impact in the community and doing what she loves. Oh how I wish I were there. But that’s not my season. That’s her’s.

Just as winter turns to spring, the landscape of our circumstances change. The stark darkness of our night duty with baby transition to sleeping like a baby. Seasons of struggle become the very moments that our hearts will long for. Not because of the things we struggle with, but because of how we can look back and see the good within them. Each one hand-picked by the Creator for us to experience. He will never put us into a place that we are not meant to be.

The Bible says,

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.. – Ecclesiastes 3:1

If you’re familiar with this scripture, then you know that it goes into a long list of things that have a specific time. The good and the bad. Like the scenes at Kroger and the potty training victories. The trips to the store to buy yogurt alone and the times when the crew drags along with you.

It also says,

He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. – Acts 1:7

This tells me that even though we have no idea what’s coming up or why we’re here and someone else is there, that God is in control. It’s a part of His grander plan.

Let’s embrace the place where God has us. Let’s find the purpose in our season. Right. Now.

If we are busy focusing our sights on where we aren’t, how can we truly be present where we are? What is in front of you right now that you might be missing?

Sister, nothing brings greater joy than contentment. Seasons are temporary. As fleeting as the wind.

Accept the season. Whatever it may be. Know that Jesus Christ works in the mundane and the messy. He makes all things new and reveals His purpose if you just take joy in the season that you are in.

Welcoming the Fall Season

September 16, 2015September 17, 2015 - Amy Leave a comment

The leaves on the tree across the street began to fall a couple of weeks ago. The green grass fades into the background as reds, golds, oranges, and browns now cover the ground in its place. I feel that first crisp chill in the air as summer is winding down. The world becomes a little more visible as the trees become transparent without their thick covering of leaves.

My how the world around us changes with a simple switch of the season.

It’s harvest time again.

Fall is the time of year when we transition from the harsh heat of the summer to the welcoming cool breezes of autumn. The cozy colors fall make their debut. Campfires fill their air with their smokey, warm goodness. Piles of leaves begin to form in front and backyards followed by cheerful giggles of children jumping into the piles.

There seems to be an overwhelming feeling of thanksgiving during the harvest months. Besides the obvious holiday, smells of apple cider and pumpkin spice always bring about a heightened sense of nostalgia.

Reminds me of this verse:

The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. – Matthew 9:37

What if we adopted a new nostalgia during the fall season? What is we used this time of year to share Jesus with others out of the abundance in our hearts? Jesus told his disciples that there is a large harvest of potential believers out there, but the laborers to go and bring them into the Kingdom are few. It’s like an entire apple orchard brimming with an abundance of apples and no one to pick them. It’s exciting to me to think that Jesus could use me as His laborer. What a special harvest that I could reap!

Gathering Grain is all about abundance. Abundance of love, life, prayer, and blessings.

Let’s pray that as we enter into this new season that God shows us where we need to reap, but also where we should sow.

The first day of fall is Wednesday, September 23rd!

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This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Family Christian Stores. All opinions expressed are 100% my own.