When autumn comes | Spiritual seasons

I have experienced times in my spiritual growth that I would describe as a stand still. Everything seems as though it is moving in slow motion. I neither feel Spiritually rich, nor spiritually lacking. I feel stuck somewhere between the lines, as though my spiritual life is just vapid. During these times when I would read my bible, I often struggled to find any significant meaning in the passage I was reading. Its not like my world was shattering, or falling apart.....there is just a peace that is missing. I know what it feels like to be completely at peace! I've experienced that blessed gift before, so, I know when it is absent.

In Ecclesiastics chapter 3 it talks about how there is "a time for everything". I am always encouraged by those verses! It's good to know that there are always going to be different seasons in life, whether they be joyful or hard....it's all a part of God equipping and strengthening me. But I also know that is is so confusing to go from a time of complete peace to a time of restlessness and discouragement....it doesn't seem right.

Once when I was going through one of my spiritual lows I approached a friend and told him about my struggle. This is what he shared with me;

There are three points I would like to give you.

1. Jesus and his disciples make a prominent point to symbolize our spiritual lives as botanical, or plant like. Think of a fruit bearing tree as you think of your life, there are four stages in the cycle of a year; or point in life.  spring, summer, autumn and winter. Each has a very important part in our lives. In spring a tree sprouts leaves and prepares to bear fruit. In the summer fruit is born and much energy is expended. In the autumn the fruit has been harvested and the leaves fall. In the winter the tree seems inactive. But in truth, without this winter stage the tree would not survive. Winter is a time to recoup and to store energy up for the coming spring. Unlike a tree, our stages are not equally spaced in the four seasons of the year, but can span for much longer or shorter time frames. 

2. There is a time and a place for everything.. Ecclesiastes is probably one of my favorite books of the bible :) Along with that, a theme of the book is the meaninglessness of our arduous cycles of life and growth in and of ourselves. God alone is what makes anything worth while and profitable. God alone is good, and God does not need us for anything. Yet he desires to use us and allows us to glorify him... Again not in and of ourselves but in him working THROUGH us.... Not with us, not along side us, only through us. It is when we fully submit to him that good is done and that his timing can be fully realized. We don't choose God, we are just shown that which has always been true and part of the plan. And we conform to that divine revelation of who God is and what his purpose is for our life, moment-to-moment, not just in the eternal sense.

3. There are times that we seem disconnected from God or that "spiritual high" seems to dissipate. When we are stricken down by situations in our lives we may have a misguided view of what our relationship with God is and how our identity in Him is assured.  It is not in what He does, but in who He is. When we take our joy and purpose in WHO God is, our joy and purpose are infallible and eternally assured. When we take our joy and purpose from the situations of how we are feeling or how we seem to be growing in Christ, our dormant stages will bring us down and make us doubt that which is so evident when God chooses to bless us with obvious proof of his work in our life.

P.S. just as a tree grows, we grow. When you watch a tree day by day you don't notice drastic change if any change at all. But over long periods of time you notice a tree has grown leaves or blossoms and in even longer spans of time the tree grows in height or width. Also, a tree does not notice itself grow, so don't expect to see yourself growing all the time. Take heart from the growth that has already been shown to you.

Even though this conversation happened years ago (at least 4), I still think of these words and I am so thankful that God placed people, like Justin, in my life to encourage me through my struggles.

Discouragement is one of the enemies greatest tools. Don't give him the satisfaction of giving up. Continue to read your bible during those dry seasons. Continue to pray, and always surround yourself with good fellowship. A tree cant grow without sun and air and water and food, so neither can you grow spiritually if you give-in to discouragement and cut yourself off from your sources of spiritual food.

A Time for Everything

"There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace. 

What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him." (Ecclesiastes 3:3-14)

Rosanna ♥