I have a beautiful view out of my office window at home. Usually, that is. In the dead of winter after a beautiful blanket of snow covers the ground, in the heart of summer after my kids and I have mowed the fresh green lawn, and when fall is in full swing and the thousands of trees in my neighbor’s forested property behind me are bursting with colors, I can just sit at my desk and be mesmerized by God’s handiwork in creation. Unfortunately, right now that’s not the case. No, we’re in the middle of what I’d call “the thaw.” The snow is melting, revealing patches of green grass and patches of mud from where I plowed snow too far and pushed back the turf. The trees remain bare. The pasture needs to be cleaned. It’s just not pleasant.
SEASONS OF LIFE
It’s not a scene that causes me to want to look out and admire, but at the same time it makes me happy. Why? Because I know this is a transition from a dark & cold winter into spring. I know my grass will grow again soon, the trees will bud and leaf, and my perennials will bloom in vibrant color. I’m comforted that we’ve made it through another winter. I smile knowing the worst of the cold, the earliest sunsets, and latest sunrises are behind us. Even if we get another cold snap and six inches of snow, which is what you’re probably thinking right now, I know that green grass, blooming flowers, and kids playing outside are all just around the corner.
This reminds me that there are unpleasant seasons in my life that feel like transitions, too, like a thaw. Those are times after particularly difficult seasons when I’m no longer “in the thick of it,” but I’m not out of it completely yet either. I’m able to gain some perspective, realizing there are lessons to be learned and anticipating the Lord has used this to strengthen my faith, but it’s not yet pleasant to look at. It hasn’t flowered into a “testimony.” This reminds me of James 1:2-4, which I preached on January 30, 2022. James writes…
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
James was writing to people who were in the middle of an exceptionally difficult season of life. They had been displaced from their homes in Jerusalem and were destitute and desperate, with no end in sight. James wanted to remind his readers that God is always working in our lives, even when we cannot see it, feel it, or sense it. (cf. Romans 8:28) For this reason, he exhorted his audience to rejoice when they met trials of various kinds. They may not have known how the Lord was going to use their suffering for His glory, or for their good, but James wanted them to rejoice anyway.
perdurably "James wanted to remind his readers that God is always working in our lives, even when we cannot see it, feel it, or sense it."
GOD IS USING THIS, TOO
THE THAW WILL COME
buy cenforce 150mg "I pleaded with the Lord, “Why did you have to take my little girl?”
I remember laying in my bed a few weeks after my daughter Kennedy died. The first week was a blur, consumed by funeral preparation. The second week was cathartic because Kellye and I were blessed with a trip to Hawaii to get away and begin to decompress. We stayed with a pastor and his wife who had been “called by the Lord” to move there and perform beach weddings. Oh, the hardships of ministry! We were truly blessed by that couple that week. Shortly after returning home, though, I was hit with unexpected grief. When life settled down a little, when my heart began to thaw so-to-speak, I was overcome with the enormous weight of our loss. It was so intense I couldn’t make myself get out of bed. I tried to cry the pain away, but it became even more intense. My body convulsed in sorrow and all I could do was curl up in a ball beneath the sheets. I pleaded with the Lord, “Why did you have to take my little girl?” Even writing that caused a lump to well up in my throat and my eyes to burn with tears.
THERE’S NO TRICK
I wish I could say there was some trick that I used to get back on track; but that’s the thing, there’s not. There’s just waiting for the Lord to work and trusting Him to do it. Obviously, I got out of bed and life went back to…well, we established a new normal. I was still a daddy in my heart, but an empty crib constantly reminded me I was no longer a father. The so-called “winter” had passed, and the proverbial “thaw” had come. I was feeling all the feels.
I’m happy to say that after some time the spring did come! The Lord used the loss of my daughter to draw me to Himself in a saving relationship with Jesus and He called me and my wife into ministry. It wasn’t long before He began to redeem the suffering, as I like to say. He began providing new direction, new purpose, lots of spiritual growth, and great ministry opportunities. Before long, our sorrow abated, and our mourning turned to joy. Joy may not be the only emotion I ever feel when I reflect on this season of my life, but I can honestly say that I now feel more joy than anything else.
"We’re no super-Christians as if any really exist. No, we relied completely on the grace of our Lord, Jesus."
It’s been 16 years since Kennedy died. As I reflect on what the Lord did in our lives through that loss, I’m filled with awe and wonder at His goodness and grace. Some people are shocked to discover that anything shakes me and my wife after we endured that trial. The fact that it does points to the reality that it wasn’t us standing in our own strength that got us through it. We’re no super-Christians, as if any really exist. No, we relied completely on the grace of our Lord, Jesus. Every trial since then has taken us back to that same well-spring of grace and we’ve found it flowing just as before. Time after time we’ve been driven there by suffering and hardship, frustration and disappointment. I’ve learned that’s how it’s supposed to work; that’s the life of faith. Suffering reminds us how much we need Jesus.
Perhaps you’re in the middle of your own “winter” right now. All you can do is survive the crisis. Or perhaps you are on the other side of the winter, but your life hasn’t quite rebounded into spring.
You’re in the “thaw.” It’s possible you feel even more pain now than you did when you were in the thick of it because now you have some perspective, or some time, or some emotional capacity that you didn’t before. James’ words are just as much for you as they were his first readers.
James invites you to remember God’s faithfulness in past trials and look beyond the suffering, anticipating that God is going to use this season of life to strengthen your faith just as He has all the others before. Rejoice in your suffering, beloved, knowing that winter will transition to a thaw which will then turn into spring and there will be life on the other side of it. I invite you to the well-spring of Jesus’ grace and to drink deeply. Jesus said…
“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.”
Lead Pastor, Brian Smith
Brian and his wife, Kellye, have five children, one of whom is with the Lord, and are licensed foster parents in Illinois. He has served at Wildwood since April 2017. His family has a hobby-farm complete with Great Pyrenees livestock guardian dogs, chickens, goats, a mini-donkey, and a couple Jersey heifers! Brian also serves as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserve.
