Season of Searching

Winter has a way of revealing. After the beauty of Fall, when the colors of gratitude fade, we find the bones of the earth begin to emerge. The core of what has been kept hidden peeks through as the foliage of protection falls away. It is now visible, vulnerable.  

I was not too familiar with the term and description of life having ‘seasons’ until someone said to me this past year, “You are in the midst of a difficult season, but you will get through it.”  What did that even mean? I came to realize life is much like the seasons that surround us throughout the year. How our lives change to bring beauty, hardship, warmth, and vulnerability.  

Seasons of the soul are not counted in days or months as we might find the seasons of the year. Rather, they are measured in growth, challenges, change, and peace. As I reflect on this past year, I find that it has really been a season of searching. My season of searching led me through many winding roads uphill and downhill. I pushed through doors I thought I had bolted shut, and found truths that I didn’t realize were struggling to reveal their bone structure to me.  

I found God this past year. He had never really left me, but I had not let Him be a part of my life, a part of my heart, until this year. This season of searching found me in the midst of spiritual warfare and facing the darkest depths of hidden secrets that began to emerge within me. I have found friends and a light I never knew. I have lost loved ones. I have laughed and I have cried.  

Facing a difficult season can be scary. Stripping away layers of what may have protected us for a while leaves us naked, exposed, and vulnerable. But, taking that step, allowing yourself to sit inside your hard truth, your sadness, and evaluating ways you tried to cope that perhaps really weren’t working can lead to amazing fulfillment.  

It can also lead to more questions, more challenges. Seasons of searching often begin with hard times. Chaos, an unraveling of what we have known takes place in pieces of our lives until it can no longer be ignored. If we can walk through this valley with the knowledge that we don’t walk alone, that there is light and understanding to be found on the other side. We will soon begin to emerge with the buds of new growth, new life, breathing around us and within us. Bright colors, new foliage and renewed faith await on the other side of your season of searching.  

What are some of the hard truths you faced this year? Did you have to let something or someone go? Did you gain something or someone in your life?  

When we navigate the seasons of life, we cannot lose sight that we are not meant to do it alone. Who walks with you? Who has God placed in your life to help you through your season of searching? Our paths cross with one another for a reason. Keep your eyes and your heart open for it may even be that God is trying to use you to help someone else. Listen for His whispers.  

As you watch the seasons of God’s creation change outside your living room window. When Winter reveals the bones of the earth. Be sure to take note of how He is changing you and the lives around you as well. Be willing to look at what lies within you, what is yet to be revealed. I will be praying for peace for you and sending you hope and love.  

Song of the day: Hope Darst, ‘If The Lord Builds The House’