The seasons in our life are not a coincidence
Kimberly Jones Pothier
As I write to you today,  I am looking out my window. It is 2:13 pm here and what normally would be a bright sunny day at this time of day is dark and rainy because we have been under tornado watch all day. Days like this have a tendency to make me tired and low energized. So on days like today, I have to be more intentional about ruling my emotions instead of letting my emotions rule me.
 
 I am thinking of this as I write to you about life and its many seasons. Sometimes, life can be warm and sunny like summertime; sometimes, it’s bitterly cold like the winter; at other times it’s very stormy; and sometimes it’s exhilarating like the newness of fall. Sometimes these various seasons are long and sometimes they seem too short. So what is the season of your life these days?
 
The seasons in our life are not a coincidence.  
 
 God uses EVERYTHING to grow us. Even the storms we create ourselves. While some of the seasons in our life are self-induced, others are allowed or even ordained by God. It is the latter ones that I am referring to when I say that the seasons in our life are not a coincidence. There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven,” the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 3:1. The verses that follow in verses 2-8 list a number of the times and seasons that life entails. Some of them we like, and some of them we don’t. Let me give them to you so you understand.  Ecclesiastes 3:2-8 says  “ A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, 3  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.
 
At times, I try to figure out the rhyme or reason behind some of the seasons I have found myself in and the ones I see that others are in. But to tell you the truth, this verse and the verses that follow are way too big for me to get my arms around. The dynamics of the activities mentioned in the verses impose themselves upon our lives, some of them negatively and some positively. It would be great if we could devise a plan to implement that would guarantee us that our life would be continuous bliss wherein the weather of life was perfect every day, but we can’t because the Bible says otherwise.
 
But what I can tell you is that whatever difficult situation you find yourself in today,  it’s only a season, not a lifelong sentence. Just as the winter has just passed, and spring has come, your current season will pass as well. Don’t you dare give up. Stop looking at how far you have to go instead of how far you have come. Renew your mind daily. Be intentional about starting your day off with quiet time with God. Even if it’s only ten minutes. He is longing for your attention. 
 

Over the years, I have known huge heartbreaks, financial struggle, losing everything and having to start over, and a  hellish divorce experience. Each one of these trials lasted several years. But all of them are now history. Yes, they were long, but they were only for a season. They taught me valuable lessons. They made me who I am today because I decided to get better and not bitter. I decided to look within and let God expose the hidden ugly places so that I could be made whole and walk into my purpose free. I wouldn’t trade one of those seasons either. I discovered that you grow so much more in wisdom and understanding through the stormy seasons. I’m reminded of when a bad storm hits, you know the monsoon rain storms.  You are driving,, the rain is coming down so hard you can’t see in front of you. It causes you to slow down and take your time. That’s the same thing that happens in the spiritual realm when you are in a monsoon storm. We slow down and begin to pay attention to things more carefully, things we wouldn’t have noticed if it weren’t for the storm in our lives. 

 
Remember that God is God in all seasons. He has not gone on strike or vacation. He is still in control. He does see what you are going through. He knows your limits, and will not subject you to any season longer than He has equipped you to weather.
 
No matter what season of life we find ourselves in, let us remain faithful. God’s desire for us is that we learn to grow in all seasons. It’s easy to realize spiritual growth when everything is conducive to the same, but by God’s grace, we can advance in all seasons. Finally, “Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, If we faint not” (Galatians 6:9, KJV).
 
One thing I know without a doubt is that you will always make it through what you are going through if you don’t quit. You don’t fail by falling, you fail by quitting. I believe that you are headed into the greatest season of your life. Breakthrough is coming because what you went though didn’t break you. 
 
I love you!
Praying for you!

Kimberly Jones Pothier