Season Change
June 21 was a Season Change. It was a shift from Spring to Summer. Depending on where you live, we live in Indiana, you may or may not notice a change in the weather. Typically, we have a Spring that includes rain, possibly snow, some hot days, some cool days, and well, actually we don’t have a typical anything because we live in Indiana! Although we usually do have a spring. This year however its like we went from Winter to Summer! It got real hot real quick, but I’m ok with that because I love summer!! None the less, we had a season change!!
Spirit Realm
The other day I felt a season change in the Spirit, I know some others did too, it was a confirmation. It wasn’t just a change of the natural atmosphere, it was a change in the spiritual atmosphere! There was a shift, a season change!! The Spirit realm is unseen, it is hidden, and sometimes its revealed to us by the Lord. 2 Kings 6:17 says, “And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see.” God can open your eyes to the things of the Spirit!! When He does, you can walk circumspectly, walking in wisdom, being sober, and the result is knowing how to pray!
Seasons
There are 4 seasons in the natural realm. First there is Spring, which is new beginnings, growth, renewal. Second is Summer, which is a season of heat, everything is in full bloom, sometimes dry or humid. Third is Autumn, a season of change, leaves, colors, it cools off, and prepares us for winter. Fourth is Winter, this can be a hard season as there is death, cold, snow possibly, and a feeling of the world stopping. To everything there is a season!
Seasons of Life
Seasons of life can come in many forms, but there is always a season that reflects the seasons God has set up in the natural. In our marriage we can walk through many different seasons which can be short or long. You can just have said “I do” or maybe you just found out you are having a child, maybe there is a death of a loved one, maybe you have young children, teens, or adult children. It could be that your children just left the nest and you are trying to figure out what life looks like now. A lost job, a move, a new endeavor. Lots of different seasons that we go through, and if you are in a season you don’t like… hold on your season WILL change!
Seasons of Marriage
Marriage can be difficult to start, as you are trying to become one. Add in seasons of life, and it can be harder. But on top of all that we go through, there are seasons of marriage. You can have lots of new beginnings, you can start anew each day. You can have seasons of stability, loss, or distant seasons. Feelings can die, or grow cold. It’s all just a season.
Spring
Spring is full of promise, new life, blessings, new moments in marriage! We all love the new beginnings! Spring brings excitement, hope, and joy! In these seasons of marriage we tend to think everything is wonderful, even when it rains, we are refreshed in our marriage!
Summer
Summer in marriage can be fun, loving, flirty, so in love.. and then it can also have times of heat.. and drought. You may see a promise fulfilled in your marriage, or you can feel dry, void of emotion, feelings of being separate from each other, or humid, it just gets sticky! You may have hurts that just when you try and address them it feels like you need a cold shower to wipe off all the junk that stuck to you!
Autumn
Autumn can be any kind of change in life. Your feelings will deceive you and cause you to give up on what God has blessed you with. Autumn can be colorful and beautiful, or it can feel like it’s dying and crumbling. The beginning of Autumn or Fall is considered a time to be outside, bundle up, leaves changing, and so we get excited about pumpkin spice everything! We love when it cools off and we can snuggle! The second half of autumn is when everything turns brown and dies, before winter hits, so we can feel sad, lonely, it may be a waiting season, or it may feel like nothing is happening in your marriage.
Winter
Winter can feel like your marriage is over, like its dead. But wait!!! Winter is a season of resting of the ground, underneath what you can see life is about ready to come forth! Snow covers in the winter and nourishes, as the earth, and life seems to stop, it covers, and renews the land so there aren’t as many insects, and it helps the soil for the next year of planting, the ground is preparing for new life to spring up!!
The Promise
The promise? The promise is that if you hold on, pray, fast, wait upon the Lord, your season will change!!! You won’t be in your present season forever, good or bad. We will move on to new seasons of life and marriage. So we have to trust the process, we need to trust the Lord and know He is faithful!! We can’t always be on the mountaintop, and we won’t always be in the valley, but, we can know Jesus is by our side on this journey.
Mountaintops
Oh how we love the mountaintops!! Seasons in marriage where everything goes well, we have abundance, we are so in love, blessed beyond measure! We get along, we see eye to eye, things are just right! But we will never appreciate those times if we never have a valley. We will eventually despise the blessing before us if we don’t ever have hard times. We don’t actually grow on the mountain top. Its just a great view, and a moment in time, where we catch a glimpse of the victory, because nothing grows on a mountaintop.
Valleys
Valleys in marriage are a great opportunity from God! Yes, you heard me correctly! We have a choice! In our world today we are told we don’t have a choice, but on the contrary we always have a choice!! A Valley in marriage is a place of growth, a place where we can learn to communicate, pray together, fast together, hurt together. Whenever we go through the trials of life we are experiencing a valley. But valleys are where life grows! We don’t like pain, hurts, rejection, anger, betrayal, they make us uncomfortable. We live to make our lives easy! But there is no growth when life is easy.
Dying to Comfort
This is tough! We like our lives, homes, cars, churches, marriages to be comfortable! We don’t like to suffer, or should I say our flesh doesn’t like to suffer, so we must die out to our flesh! This is a daily practice, reading the word, praying, saying I’m sorry, repenting, fasting! Our stinking flesh always wants it’s way! But God said we are more than conquerors through Him! If we walk in the spirit we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
Growth in the Struggle
Even some of our season changes that are good, exciting, and a blessing require growth. They can be painful, it can bring fear of the unknown, it can cause you to stop in your tracks and think, is this supposed to be this way? But every time we plant a seed, it has to die, push, breakthrough, and sprout! We will go through the same process if we surrender to it! We need to learn to be patient, flexible, selfless, teachable, understanding, and calm as God takes us to the next level in our marriage. Season change is normal and we will struggle, but out of the struggle comes blessing we never dreamed as our marriage blooms into beauty!
Prayer
My prayer for you today is that you embrace your season! Ask the Lord, what can I learn from this season? How can I grow? Help me see the beauty in each season, and help me prepare my heart for the next!!! Your season will change, but don’t miss the lesson in the present season for your marriage. Our attitude toward our marriages can change the atmosphere of our season!! When we endure and prepare for our season change we can have a happilyevermarried!!
Scriptures
Monday: 2 Kings 6:17 says, “And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see.” Pray today for your eyes to be open to the things of the spirit, that God will direct you in praying for the season of your marriage you are in, or the one you are preparing for!
Tuesday: Read Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, and 11. Ecc 3:1 says, “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heavens:” God is perfect in all that He does!! Pray over this scripture and ask God to reveal what season you are currently in.
Wednesday: Psalm 38:10 says, “My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me.” We can carry our burdens to the Lord, be honest with Him, and pour out our hearts cry to Him. As we release these prayers to heaven, we will see God lift the load.
Thursday: Isaiah 40:31 says, “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” Spend time today waiting upon the Lord in prayer and worship! He will renew you and strengthen you to endure if you’re in a long season in your marriage!
Friday: Please Read Psalm 145 and focus on 145:16 which says, “The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou gives them their meat in due season.” Pray for a heart that can wait upon the Lord and praise Him in the storm! We all have seasons in marriage that can experience storms of life, but God will see us through!! Our praise changes the atmosphere!
Saturday: 1 Peter 5:8-9 says, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.” You are not alone!! As you meditate on this word, pray to walk upright, be sober, and pray with the armor of God on for your marriage!!
Sunday: Romans 8:37 says, “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” We have the victory in Him and can face anything that comes our way in marriage with Jesus!!
Contact
Please, if this has blessed you, share, post, and encourage someone today with this newest blog! http://happilyevermarried.org and please feel free to contact me with prayer requests, or topics you would like covered at janene@happilyevermarried.org. Make sure to check your email to confirm, if you have subscribed to weekly emails with our newest blog posts. If you aren’t seeing an email please check your spam mail. Thank you!!