Do you ever feel like you are stuck in winter? Not the ‘it’s cold outside I need a wrap’ kind of stuck, but my soul feels frozen kind of stuck. Life is just hard, circumstances feel overwhelming and you just do not feel The Lord near.’ You almost wonder ” Where is God”; does he even hear me. I think everyone has seasons of winter in their walk with The Lord, those times when even prayer seems hard. I know I have. God does not tell us life will always be sunny and warm, easy going and full of fun. His word does promise trials of many kinds, mini winters if you will where we will have to hunker down and rely on what we know to be true, rather than our feelings.

I have had several seasons of winter in my walk with Jesus, times when I was convinced He just wasn’t aware of my circumstances or simply did not care that I was in a desperate place. I felt as though my prayers were hitting the ceiling and falling back down to the ground. I became timid to even go to my Father and pray, unsure of whether I was praying wrong or he simply was not listening to me. It has been in those times that these truths from scripture have sustained my soul until summer came again.

Psalm 121:1-2, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.” You can rest assured, help is on the way.

Psalm 27:14 ”Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.” It is in these time that we feel the inner strengthening of the Lord, our hope begins to rise. Courage is just around the corner.

Proverbs 3:5-6,”Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” God will always direct our path, and we can look back at all the times he has helped us, kept us, heard us, showed us which way to go. His faithfulness on display.

Psalm 91:1-6, ”He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I
trust. Surely, he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. …4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; 6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.” He covers us, even when it does not feel like we are being sheltered, we are. Without Christ, it would be so much worse. He will deliver us, maybe not when we think he should, but when he thinks it is time.

Winter comes to each of us, we just need to remember that we are not alone He is always with us holding us, hiding us, helping us. Our spring will return and with it a more real understanding of the keeping power of Jesus and all the ways he is near to us, ever faithful ever true. It is never his desire to crush us, but to remold and remake us into a greater likeness to himself. He uses our winters like sandpaper to smooth the edges of our souls and make the Springtime and Summer all the brighter and more fruitful.

If we were always on the mountain top we would not appreciate the view so much. We would get so used to it that it became ordinary to us. Sometimes a valley is just what our souls need, to crowd us ever closer to our Lord and make us all the more appreciative of those mountaintop moments.
Praise God for His mercies are new each and every day and His grace is sufficient for every season of our lives.