Seasons

"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace."
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

When I begun my time at Potter's Field Ranch, I really struggled with leaving home. I wanted to embrace what the Lord had for me there at the ranch, and yet I was afraid that in so doing I would have to let go of my family. I was afraid that new relationships would replace the old, and I didn't want that to happen.

I realized that I am now grown up, my childhood is behind me, and I really grieved over that. I would think of memories of my childhood, and while I was very thankful for those memories, my heart would break because I would wish that those times had not ended. Like in Peter Pan, I wished that there was a Never Land, somewhere I could go where I would never have to grow older and move away from my family.

This was something that I believed the Lord had to work out in my life. I had to learn how to move away and let go.The Lord is so good and brought me through that time. I was so afraid that if I embraced what He had set before me, then I would lose my family. He showed me that nothing could ever, ever replace my family. I learned that I can readily form new relationships with the people whom He so lovingly places in my life, while still not losing that special relationship with my family. This may seem obvious and sound silly, and yet it was something that I really had to learn there at Potter's Field. I think so often we are trying to hold on so tightly to what we are afraid to lose that we are unable to receive what the Lord is so graciously trying to give us.

Tonight I read the above Scripture. It is a familiar passage, and yet one that the Lord is using to speak to me in this season of my life. There is a time for everything. A time to be a little girl, and a time to grow up and, in my case, move to Costa Rica for 6 months. In the midst of all of the seasons of life, in all of the changes, Jesus remains faithful and He never changes. There is a time for everything, and in everything God promises to work all things for my good if I love Him and am called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28). Because of this promise, I can trust that even in the times of change, the times of hardship, good will come out of it. Things may not look good, they may not feel good, but I can trust that God is good and that He will be faithful to remember all of His promises to me.

If you read further in Ecclesiastes you will come to chapter 3 verse 11 where the writer says: "He has made everything beautiful in its time." I love this. There is a time for everything, and He has made everything beautiful in its time. This speaks to me of the fact that God's plan is perfect, and even though change is hard, God knows when that change needs to take place. God makes everything beautiful in its time, which means in every season He has a purpose and a plan. He is always, always working for our good and His glory, even when it doesn't feel like it.

I am so, so thankful that I can trust that God is good and is working for my good. I am so thankful that even though I may look wistfully back at past seasons in my life, I can trust that God knows best and knows when change needs to happen in order to make everything beautiful.


"Picture a piece of embroidery placed between you and God, with the right side up towards God. Man sees the loose, frayed ends; but God sees the pattern." Corrie Ten Boom

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28