Embracing the Rainy Days

The winter rains, cold days, and gloomy skies make it hard for those in desperate need of the sun. BUT these winter rains saturate the ground and begin to fill the underground aquifers. This ground water provides for families, livestock, crops and the summer gardens. It is pivotal that these are filled during the cool months when plants are dormant to prepare for the heat of the summer.
Sometimes our lives feel cold, dark, gloomy, as if we pass from rainy day to rainy day. BUT these days of suffering are what build our spirit. For it is through suffering that perseverance is created and likewise character, with an end result of hope. Through the heartache, pain, and weariness, we learn hope. We learn to trust on the Lord and His provision. He will provide what we need. Our needs may look differently than what we want. We may desire our character to be perfected over night, or to tell God, “Ok, lesson learned, let’s move on and fix me.” However, the Lord is perfecting our faith through each and every hardship. The fight never ends this side of heaven, so the Lord molds and creates a character within us that creates a hope that is unshakable, if we are willing to persevere. Don’t let the enemy win the battle over your spirit, choose to embrace suffering to the point of hope. The Lord is good and desires good for you in this fallen world, take hold of the hope you could have! Perseverance is key!
Romans 5:1-5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
1 Timothy 6:12  Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
Hebrews 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
*** This picture isn’t very beautiful, but it is preparing to bloom!