“To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1

I love the fall of the year! The cooler weather and crisp early mornings, patchy sunlight through the trees as the leaves thin and the overwhelming variety of leaf shapes and shades. Autumn is spectacularly colorful and truly displays the wonder of God’s amazing creation and the precision of our Lord’s design. “Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for the days and years.”” Genesis 1:14

Our God is a God of change. Just as the seasons of the year change according to God’s plan, we are changed as we embrace our God and His plan for us. Our first and most dramatic change occurs when we become Christians, when through our faith and belief in His Son, Jesus, we can draw close to God. His grace has provided this plan so that we might be saved and enjoy a personal relationship with God. We are His now.

Ecclesiastes 3 tells us there is a time for every purpose under heaven. All the seasons of our lives show us God’s purpose. Of course, we may not see it at the time, but later in a different season, we realize that God has used something to change us.

I was in my mid-twenties and I was promoted to oversee the BEH, Behaviorally and Emotionally Handicapped, program for our school system; I helped to transition children in and out of the program successfully. My career in education was moving forward. However, in the second month of my new assignment I was diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy. I didn’t have typical seizures, but I literally “spaced out” for a time and didn’t know what was going on around me. I could not drive! So much for my new promotion. The school system found me a temporary assignment for the remainder of the year. At the time it was devastating!

But later I appreciated that because this was so difficult, that for the first time in my life, I couldn’t rely only on myself or my family. I poured out my anger, my frustration, my disappointment and my heart to God. I found the strength to go where He led me. I found His comfort in the pain of illness. I found His peace in the midst of chaos. I found a new and more personal faith. I was changed, and yes, to a better me.

God continues to mold and change us according to His love and plan. We may find a spouse (check out the blog post, “Good and Perfect Gifts from God”), we may have children, we may have health problems, we lose loved ones, we may not understand all that happens as we move through the “seasons” of our lives. But in all things, we rely on and look to our God for His guidance, His love, His comfort and His peace. We don’t understand the whys, “because His ways are higher than our ways”, but each season makes us stronger, more compassionate, more steadfast, and firmer in our faith. We grow closer to God as we depend on His Spirit to bring us through each season of our lives.

This week thank God for the “seasons” of change in your life. When did you find His strength, His comfort, His peace, and His love? Perhaps you are struggling through a difficult “season” now, go to our Lord, embrace His love and grace, and He will help you through it.

I thank God for each of you! And I thank you for joining me today to share in the seasons of our lives.