Wrapping up Winter
The most beautiful thing to me about this picture is the reminder that one day these trees will be full of so many green leaves. They will be bursting with color. But for this season they are still. They are glorious in all the ways they need to be. They cannot be what they haven’t gone through yet. They cannot get to the next season without being present in this season. They reminded me of my own life in a way. Being in a certain season, but so desperately wanting a different season to be my reality. Wanting everything to change without actually going through a process.
As much as I might want to skip parts of this season, I cannot. The other day I was in my room and I felt the Lord say “stop rushing through this season. Stop trying to fix it all on your own so it can look perfect. Just enjoy where you are because It will not always be like this. Do not bypass this moment. There is still so much to soak up.” I am reminding myself that even when I don’t like how this season may feel or look no season will ever be perfect. This is an opportunity to lean in. For two years I have been wanting a new job. I have told multiple people I am quitting. And at one point everyone thought I had quit because I spoke like I had, but here I am still in the same job. And the Lord is not finished with me yet. He is still teaching me and showing up even when I don’t want to get out of the car every weekday. Dramatic, I know. But at times my eyes have been fixed on all the wrong things.
I was reading a quote the other day that said: “There is no bad weather. Only bad clothes.” And I am taking that to mean that perspective is everything. It has everything to do with where we fix our eyes. It’s reminding ourselves that God has positioned me in a particular space for a particular reason. I may not like it or understand it, but I get to choose where my eyes look. I get to choose to ask the Lord for help and give him the glory. When it seems like I am not where I’d like to be yet, may I remember that I don’t have to have all the answers. I can cling to all the characteristics of God. He is working through all situations and his hand is touching all things in my life and yours.
God is kind.
“Lord, how wonderfully you bless the righteous. Your favor wraps around each one and covers them under your canopy of kindness and joy.”
Psalm 5:12
“For God has proved his love by giving us his greatest treasure, the gift of his Son. And since God freely offered him up as the sacrifice for us all, he certainly won’t withhold from us anything else he has to give.”
Romans 8:32
“Throughout the coming ages we will be the visible display of the infinite, limitless riches of his grace and kindness, which was showered upon us in Jesus Christ.”
Ephesians 2:7
God knows me better than I know myself.
“So don’t worry. For your Father cares deeply about even the smallest detail of your life.”
Matthew 10:30-31
“Lord, you know everything there is to know about me. You perceive every movement of my heart and soul, and you understand my every thought before it even enters my mind. You are so intimately aware of me, Lord.”
Psalm 139:1-4
“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”
Psalm 139:14
God will never stop loving me.
“You are always and dearly loved by God! So robe yourself with virtues of God, since you have been divinely chosen to be holy. Be merciful as you endeavor to understand others, and be compassionate, showing kindness towards all. Be gently and humble , unoffendable in your patience with others.”
Colossians 3:12
“The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”
Zephaniah 3:17
“So now I live with the confidence that there is nothing in the universe with the power to separate us from God’s love. I’m convinced that his love will triumph over death, life’s troubles, fallen angels, or dark rulers in the heavens. There is nothing in our present or future circumstances that will weaken his love.”
Romans 8:38
God protects me.
“Because you are close to me and always available, my confidence will never be shaken, for I experience your wrap-around presence every moment. My heart and soul explode with joy—full of glory! Even my body will rest confident and secure. For you will not abandon me to the realm of death, nor will you allow your Holy One to experience corruption. For you bring me a continual revelation of resurrection life, the path to the bliss that brings me face-to-face with you.”
Psalm 16:8-11
“So, what does all this mean? If God has determined to stand with us, tell me, who then could ever stand against us?”
Romans 8:31
“He’s my shelter of love and my fortress of faith, who wraps himself around me as a secure shield. I hide myself in this one who subdues enemies before me.”
Psalm 144:2
May we clothe ourselves in these truths so that we may have eyes to see there is no season he is not working on our behalf.
YOU ARE SO LOVED.
XOXO
LIZA