The Certainty of Hope

Sometimes during the winter I feel like summer will never come. The thoughts of wearing shorts, being tan, and swimming in the lake every weekend seem so ridiculously far out of reach that I sometimes get really frustrated and down, and spend more time than is probably healthy wishing for summer instead of appreciating the moment I am in. If I had it my way, winter wouldn't exist. I would never have to wear a coat, scrape ice off my car, or feel the piercing wind through my 5 layers of clothes. But, just when I think I just can't handle the cold anymore, spring comes. It always comes. That first morning you walk out of your house and aren't absolutely freezing. That first afternoon where it's too warm for your coat and the sun has warmed your car for when you get in. Those first few blossoms on the trees and the first spurts of grass that start to grow...hope springs. Hope of warmer weather and summer nights and longer days. And all the despair and unpleasantness of winter slowly starts to fade away and become nothing but a memory.
This is what God does in our lives. Constantly. When we are in a season of despair, discouragement, and uncertainty, sometimes it feels like relief may never come-- that those warmer days are impossible to even imagine. We fall away from God and forget to thank Him for our blessings, and we find ourselves praying to be delivered from the valley instead of clinging to the Shepherd for strength and refuge. But then, at just the right moment, we see that first blossom. We smell fresh cut grass and hear birds chirping. We realize that maybe hope isn't that far away. But it was always there. We always know spring is coming. And, in the same way, we can know that hope is always there, because HE is our hope. He never fails, and His mercies are new every morning. Don't let yourself be blinded by the snow, wind, or rain of the season you're in. He is there through it all. If there was no winter, we wouldn't appreciate the summer as much. Thank Him for it, learn from it, trust in His promises, and cling to the hope that He will bring you through to better, warmer days. He is always making things new. That's what He does, that's who He is, and you can rely on Him to do it--in His time.

"For I am confident of this very thing: that He who began a good work in you will perfect it unto the day of Christ Jesus." -Philippians 1:6