'The Season has changed, the bondage of your barren winter has ended, and the season of hiding is over and gone.' Song of Songs 2:11 TPT
In my process of being transformed, I've learned that God moves in seasons, he is a God of Patterns. When I say God moves in seasons, I'm not talking natural but spiritual seasons. I find it interesting that our spiritual seasons are very similar to the natural seasons. I want to talk about what I learned about my seasons of transformation being in my secret place, the first season which is the long, trying hard winter season.
Winter Season
The leaves have fallen, you could feel a chill up your back and the evenings have invited darkness in earlier than usual. It's cold and you notice not as many people are on the street like usual, the season has officially shifted. Hello Winter! Well to be honest winter is not my favorite season, naturally and spiritually, winter is a time where many slow down to reflect, spend time with family and for some consecrate to God. During Winter season, there's isolation, pruning, and heart surgery that is happening rather you know it or not by our heavenly father.
Before I even knew what spiritual seasons were, I had recognized certain periods where my moods would shift and the same consistent patterns would always happen around the same time. When I would be in my winter season I recognized I would always feel a shift in my moods, friends seemed to disappear, jobs and opportunity would be stagnant and to top it all off, I would feel all alone. Some of my friends that I would consider wise counsel are no longer available and altogether friends just disappear, what is happening? At one point, I was actually starting to think, do I even like people? Why do I feel this way? I felt so naked like Adam and Eve, I even thought is God going to deliver me from this yet? So many unknowns and uncertainties that at one point I had clarity about I no longer know anymore, now I'm sitting in my secret place feeling a bit hopeless, I don't know what to think. What I found out later was that God was pruning me and doing heart surgery. I felt so alone during this period which I know many do as well.
The Shaking
Have you ever felt so alone during the time where you needed help or comfort?Well that's exactly how it can be when you're in your winter season, you see I believe God is testing us during this period as well to see if we still stay the course and stay firmly planted like a tree through all the winter storms no matter what, through tears, flaws, sins, mistakes, and loss. These are the things that God is bringing up to the surface, everything that can be shaken will be shaken. God is ridding us of all our bad habits, mindsets, behaviors and cycles. During these times, you look for help because it seems like God is silent at first, well at least for me, advice seems to be of no avail. The winter season that I remembered so clearly because it was a big transition for me is when I was addicted to pain pills. Now, I have spoken about this in my previous story but I want to give you more of what I experienced being in bondage to this vice.
Cold, Dark Night
I remember one dark winter season in my young twenties, I never felt so lost and hopeless even being a christian then. I was so confused about the path and destiny of my life as I worked as an hostess at a restaurant with a baby unmarried and addicted. Day after day, barely showing up to work or showing up late, I dreaded life, I was just a walking zombie. At the time, my now husband who was just my baby's father then, was struggling financially, we lived in a crabby roach infested apartment and neighborhood, we would bicker and argue about money constantly and it was just not an ideal situation. Finally, things started to shift for what I thought was a nightmare but ended up being a huge blessing in disquise, I got fired from job, how is that a blessing one might say? Well it was the beginning of a change for the better but it sure did not feel like it , that was just the beginning. My car broke down during this time, my daughter who at the time was only 2 threw my phone in the water, it was destroyed! I had all my drug contacts in my phone and things were not getting better between me and my then babyfather with our financial situation and other issues, it was a mess! I broke down and cried because I felt stripped. Another thing that I have learned is that when there is darkness, this is the time where God wants to shine through us, it is a time where you die with Christ then rise with Christ, and that's what happened after the winter storm. After you endure the long cold dark winter and learn what God wants you to learn, you can start to smell the flowers blooming signaling that spring is upon you ,that is what transitioned me into my next breakthrough season, spring season.
The Shift
Following the winter season is spring, ,although spring time is exciting, the transition can be challenging. Just like the natural spiritual season, even though the beautiful flowers are blooming, the birds are singing, and the weather is perfect, you perceive a fresh beginning, well it's the same for spiritual seasons. When your in your season you perceive it, you start to get a grip on what God wants you to learn, promises are manifesting slowly but surely and you start to see the fruit in your life, however, just like we love natural spring season, it can also be trying because you have to deal with annoying, harsh allergies at least for my household and many others I know, there's times where the weather is perfect one minute the cold the next, just like our spiritual seasons we see moments of breakthrough but get hit with some spiritual warfare here and there, it's part of the process, he's pruning us like we prune our trees, the earth is transitioning like our spiritual seasons. Allow God to sanctify you, prune you and don't get impatient with the process, don't compare your process to other's as well, we all have different callings and God deals with us differently because we are all different, he knows our spiritual needs. Be patient and wait on the Lord, your season of breakthrough, spring harvest is rising up, let us transition into our promises, Amen!
The Storm is over...
