Seasons

Disclaimer: When I started this blog I did not intend for it to be a forum for me to voice a complaining spirit, and that is not my intention now.

About a month ago I had coffee with a close friend of mine. During the course of our conversation an interesting subject came up: How should we as believers handle the difficult times in life? My friend explained that God allows us to go through different "seasons" in our lives' to mature us and to give us hope for the future glory that He has promised us.

Lately I have been dealing with a heavy heart. I can't point to one specific situation in my life that had led me to feel this way, but I know that for several weeks I have felt a certain anxiety, a restlessness, maybe even a sadness. It just seems easy to look at my past failures, shortcomings, and poor decisions and wonder, "What in the world was I thinking?" As I reflect on these issues, one truth is apparent. Many of these shortcomings came at a time when I made a decision that directly conflicted with God's word. Like most people, I think I have a tendency to want to take control in my life. Those are the times when life seems hard.

Please pray that I would allow the Lord to take control of my life. He has my heart, but there are certain areas in my life that I know I need to surrender completely to Him.

Yesterday in my quiet time I came across this verse in Hebrews 12. I'm not sure its entirely relevant to the blog topic, but it was a source of encouragement to me.

"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."