Embracing the Seasons

Seasons.
Seasons of life are hard.
Some are good.  Some are bad.
Some bring life.  Some bring death.
Some bring joy.  Some bring pain.
 
I think the hardest thing for me is when I am in one season but I can sense or even see another season on the horizon.  I sense a change coming.
 
It snowed today and I went outside to play with my little girl.  I took my phone and snapped this picture of our hammock (that I forgot to put away in the garage when summer ended) against the backdrop of the winter snow.
 
This little irony was such a sweet reminder of the ebbs and flows of life.  It made me start to think about seasons and how oftentimes there is no real end to one season and beginning of another.  They simply flow from one stage to another.  For instance, sometimes the flowers start to bloom and then a freak snowstorm happens to remind us that winter is still alive. 
 
This plays out in our lives as well.  We've accepted that new job, the one we've been hoping and praying for, but we still have to fulfill an obligation to our current employer.  We're training a teenager to make good decisions and yet they still need their Mommy when they feel sick.  We're anticipating the birth of a child, but we are still pregnant.
 
I guess life is really all just about being pregnant.  Pregnant with the next stage.  Pregnant with the next life event.  Pregnant with anticipation.  Sometimes we know what we are pregnant with and sometimes we don't.  Sometimes something is just being born in us and we know we are being prepared for something but we don't see the whole picture yet.
 
2013 was like that for me.  Now that 2014 is here, I don't really know if all the waiting is over.  I don't have all of the answers but I know the One who holds the answers.  And I know that He sees me and He sees my desires and my concerns and He is Lord of all of them.
 
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.        ~Jeremiah 29:11-13
My prayer for 2014 is that I would be Brave.  Brave enough to take God at his word and believe that He is doing something in my life.  I may not always be able to see it, but He is at work and He has a plan for me.  A hope.  And a future.

A new season is coming.  I don't know when. But it's coming and in the mean time, while I'm waiting- while I'm pregnant, I will wait faithfully and believe Him.

About Kerry

Kerry Todd is married to her best friend, Denny, and has one daughter, Alivea. She is passionate about missions and about orphans and she loves watching the church be the church.  She and her husband have adopted one daughter and are in the process of adopting another child. She writes at my life (his mission) all about how God has wrecked her heart for the orphan and how she has found new life in the midst of infertility.  You can keep up with all of her craziness on her blog, facebook, and twitter.

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