Difficult Seasons
As I listened to the sleet pelting the sides of the 5th wheel trailer that I’ve called home for the past 7 months, I got to thinking about the difficult seasons we walk through in life. While living out of an RV and one finished room in a farm shop isn’t always glamorous, I was thinking a little bigger than that. Difficult seasons can mean a lot of things. It can mean we aren’t getting as far in life as we feel like we ought to be. Maybe we’ve waited on something we want so badly, and feel that the necessary work has been done, but the payoff isn’t coming. Other times we think we have what we want and need, it may have even seemed to be God’s will, but it crashes and burns leaving us wondering. Of course there’s the literal meaning too. Lots of farmers, lineman, road crews, etc. would probably say that this winter season has been a challenge weather-wise.
As I write, the Ryan Bingham song Hard Times comes to mind. He says “Hard times they come and they go, and most of the time they’re in the middle of your road. The same pain in different ways, don’t you know that when it pours it rains.” Things are inevitably not going to go our way from time to time, so what are we to do? For one thing we can look for the positive. No matter how bad a situation seems, there is literally always a positive that can be taken from it. It’s all relative, and I’m so blessed that I hate to even mention my situation as a difficulty compared with that of others, but I can only write what I know. Given the choice I would not have closed my thriving business for the past nearly year at this point. If I hadn’t though, I truly believe I would have missed out on the majority of the spiritual growth and learning opportunities that I’ve had during that time. This blog has been born out of this time, which has been a blessing for me and I pray maybe someone else too.
Facing challenges also gives God a great chance to work in and through us, showcasing his awesome power and love in our weaknesses. There are so many scriptures to turn to about waiting patiently and relying on God to get us through the hard times. I love when I’m reminded that He’s at work in a situation. This past weekend I was unexpectedly able to get a COVID vaccination. I’m never particularly excited about getting any more injections than is absolutely necessary, but with my immune system being weakened by my Crohn’s Disease treatment I planned to get the vaccine as soon as I could. Here in Kentucky they’re not to my category to get the shot quite yet, so I was expecting to wait a bit longer. However probably due to inclement weather, the health department had extra doses left over and needed to use them before they expired. As I’ve seen others describe, getting the shot felt like much more of a step in the right direction than I anticipated. It’s nice to know that in a few weeks I can worry less about spreading the virus to family, be a little less concerned about seeing friends and going places, and will be better prepared to return to work when the time comes. It’s a little victory, but what a blessing to have that step in the right direction fall right in to my lap when I wasn’t expecting it.
I was going to neatly edit these thoughts into this post, however, for authenticity’s sake, I’m just going to drop them here. I wanted to post this 3 weeks ago when it was wintery and frozen outside, but one thing lead to another. Since then, the ice sleet and snow have melted, and some areas of Kentucky received absolutely massive amounts of rain. Coming right off of power outages and destruction due to ice, many of the same areas saw historic flooding. People had property and livelihoods damaged, scattered and destroyed by raging rivers the likes of which have only been seen a couple times in the past century. I pray for quick recovery and rebuilding for everyone who has been effected! What’s my point? Just because one hardship ends, doesn’t mean we might not be headed straight in to another. Each day and season of life holds it’s own unique challenges. John Lennon said “Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.” From a worldly perspective, I think the quote is wholly inaccurate, but if you add “With God” to the beginning that’s another story. “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them,” Romans 8:28, if you will. Dealing with Kentucky weather isn’t the only circumstance in which we sometimes go straight from one difficulty in to another. There will likely be something we’d prefer to change about every season, so we’ll have much more joy if we focus on how good God is rather than our problems.
Everyone faces hard seasons at different times and to different degrees. Ryan Bingham finishes his verse by saying “You can get up when it puts you down, cause everybody’s got em if you look around.” That’s a good reminder that everyone is in the same boat sometimes, but how do we truly get up when something puts us down? Let’s look to Isaiah 40:31 which says “But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” We can’t push through on our own. We can’t figure everything out or understand everything, even though I personally am too often determined to try. We’re not designed to be able to do these things alone. God made us to trust Him and let Him take care of things through faith. Difficult seasons can be a great reminder to let Him have control and keep Him at the center. I pray that during this time of difficulty for lots of people, many would recognize their need and come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Not only that, but that many who know Him will take the chance to draw closer in a more personal relationship. Regardless of where you find yourself, rest assured He will meet you where ever you are.
