{"id":330,"date":"2018-06-24T16:47:18","date_gmt":"2018-06-24T20:47:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/actownsend.com\/MEOW\/?p=330"},"modified":"2018-06-24T16:47:18","modified_gmt":"2018-06-24T20:47:18","slug":"seasons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/actownsend.com\/MEOW\/seasons\/","title":{"rendered":"Seasons"},"content":{"rendered":"

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under Heaven.
\n<\/em>~ Ecclesiastes 3:1<\/span><\/p>\n

Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring;<\/span>
\nA time assigned to every thing.<\/span>
\nWinter, Spring, Summer, Fall;<\/span>
\nA plan and purpose for it all.<\/span><\/p>\n

Buried under Winter\u2019s snow,<\/span>
\nThe seed awaits its time to grow.<\/span>
\nCalled forth by the Summer sun,<\/span>
\nThe time of new life has begun.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I have some purrfectly wonderful news for you! The impossible journey you are enduring right now has come to pass<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

These circumstances will change. They will transition and alter, mature and become. And so will you. Your perspective, comprehension, priorities, strength, courage, and compassion will change. Your understanding will awaken. Your wisdom will expand. Your faith will deepen.<\/span><\/p>\n

You will stand taller and shine brighter as an encouragement to others coming along behind you. Just as you cried out for help and grasped strong, experienced hands for guidance, so others will reach for your strength and experience to light their darkest night.<\/span><\/p>\n

But not yet. First, you must go through.<\/span><\/p>\n

Family, health, finances. Anger, desperation, fear, grief, guilt, hurt, unbearable loss. Change permanently alters your life, but this dark and painful time will not last forever. It has come to pass.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGoing through\u201d testifies to transition and transformation. Life is a series of seasons. Seasons change, proving that the conclusion of one chapter is the beginning of another as we, too, morph through cycles of spring, summer, autumn, and winter, through the bliss of sunshine and gentle breeze, through hurricanes and the damage only a monster can do.<\/span><\/p>\n

How can you believe? How can you be confident that you will survive this nightmare, or imagine that any good could possibly result from it?<\/span><\/p>\n

You know this because others have experienced and endured and survived. Others have gone through and witnessed impossible circumstances, all the way to the very end of their lives, culminate in victory beyond what any but God Himself could rescue and restore and redeem. Their legacies are our examples.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u2665\u00a0 \u00a0Joseph did not spend his entire life in prison for a crime he did not commit. He was restored and promoted to become ruler over all of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2665\u00a0 \u00a0Job did not die a diseased pauper. His health, family, and wealth were restored.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2665\u00a0 \u00a0Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were sentenced to death in a fiery furnace. They walked through the fire, accompanied by the Son of God, and they emerged unharmed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2665\u00a0 \u00a0Daniel, also condemned to death, spent a night amidst a den full of lions and walked out safe and whole the next morning.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2665\u00a0 \u00a0Jonah did not die in the stomach of the great fish. Transformed by that experience, he traveled to Nineveh and preached a sermon that transformed the city.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2665\u00a0 \u00a0Jesus did not remain imprisoned by death and a tomb. Nor did He merely survive. He conquered and overcame, permanently annihilating the walls with which sin and politics disguised as religion had separated humanity from God. Jesus transformed the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

They went through<\/em>. Not by their own power, but by their deliberate, steadfast faith in the unreserved grace and absolute perfection of God.<\/span><\/p>\n

If someone has lied about you or conspired to do you harm, you are not alone. Joseph and Daniel also suffered because of the jealousy and hatred of others.<\/span><\/p>\n

If life has suddenly been turned upside down by death, broken relationships, or financial devastation, and you have no idea why these things are happening, how to cope, or if you will even be able to survive, read the book of Job.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re suffering the consequences of your own bad decisions, remember the discipline and the grace received by Jonah.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you are being persecuted for your Christian faith, remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Remember Jesus Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n

Remember the faith they all had in common: unshakeable belief and deliberate trust in God, no matter what<\/em>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t

Faith is absolute confidence in God. Knowing He will stay with you, hold you, and guide you. Knowing that nothing can ever separate you from His love. Knowing He is, and He can, and trusting that He will do what is right in every situation, in response to every prayer.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

<\/i>Click To Tweet<\/span><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n

Faith is absolute confidence in God. Knowing He will stay with you, hold you, and guide you. Knowing that nothing can ever separate you from His love. Knowing He is, and He can, and trusting that He will do what is right in every situation, in response to every prayer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Seasons of trouble, clouds of doubt,<\/span>
\nWinds that toss the soul about,<\/span>
\nStrengthen root and branch and core<\/span>
\nThrough faith in Christ forevermore.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"We cats face the changing seasons of our lives not only with physical response, but also with inherent wisdom. We grow a thicker coat of fur in the winter and shed the excess hair in the spring. We experience each season with acceptance that wind and rain and savage heat, snow and ice and frigid cold, are temporary circumstances that we must go through. All seasons arrive with their own blessings and burdens.<\/span><\/p>\n

Like humans, we prepare for what we know, and we learn from the new and unfamiliar. And we never stop living life to the fullest, never stop becoming the Extra-Ordinary miracles God created us all to be.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the worst times of your life, hold onto the God Who made you.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trust in the Lord.<\/span>
\nWait on the Lord.<\/span>
\nBe still.<\/span><\/p>\n

This season, like all others, has only come, to pass.\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"Trust in the Lord with all your heart; lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.<\/em> \u2013 Proverbs 3:5-6<\/span><\/p>\n

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.<\/em> ~ Isaiah 40:28-31<\/span><\/p>\n

Be still, and know that I am God.<\/em> ~ Psalm 46:10<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2665\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>\u2665\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>\u2665\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under Heaven. ~ Ecclesiastes 3:1 Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring; A time assigned to every thing. Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall; A plan and purpose for it all. Buried under Winter\u2019s snow, The seed awaits its time to grow. Called forth by the Summer…<\/p>\n

Continue<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[13,19,16,17,7,22],"class_list":["post-330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith-hope-love","tag-cat","tag-faith","tag-inspiration","tag-melodys-extra-ordinary-world","tag-meow","tag-perspective"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s9JMNa-seasons","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/actownsend.com\/MEOW\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/actownsend.com\/MEOW\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/actownsend.com\/MEOW\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/actownsend.com\/MEOW\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/actownsend.com\/MEOW\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/actownsend.com\/MEOW\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":337,"href":"https:\/\/actownsend.com\/MEOW\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions\/337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/actownsend.com\/MEOW\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/actownsend.com\/MEOW\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/actownsend.com\/MEOW\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}