Hello!

I hope you’ve all enjoyed the beautiful weather from the past few days as much as I have! This is a wonderful time of year for me- the snow is gone, the air is warming up, it’s great.

And miraculously, green is pushing itself up through the soil and dead leaves and muck from the past year and bursting into bloom with vibrant color. Spring always seemingly occurs overnight and the surprise of it just lifts my spirit. It happens every year, but somehow after the cold winter the beauty of spring seems so far away and so unlikely…but then here it is! It happened again! These first days of the season when the first blooms arrive always reminds me of Hebrews 11. I can’t see whats happening underground, I really have no idea what makes plants awaken to life after winter- but I have assurance that it will happen, I have confidence it will happen. As is the same each year, towards the end of February I began to lose faith that it’d ever warm up, then it gets rainy and then there’s mud all over the house and it’s just a mess, then just when I start thinking we need to move south of the Mason-Dixon Line I go to take my trash out and a spot of yellow called to me from under a pine tree- a daffodil in full bloom. And it was there the whole time! Last summer it was there, then in the fall it was there and covered in leaves, then it was there in winter covered in snow- and just when I had almost given up hope it reminded me that it’s still there alive and well and surviving beyond my understanding.

And that’s faith, isn’t it? We believe in a lot of things we cannot see- and though we have a lot of solid evidence and proof that we can use to defend our faith- sometimes it still can seem unlikely and unbelievable- but the God we have faith in is still there. "By faith we understand that the world has been created by the word of God so that what is seen has not been made out of things that are visible. By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he was attested to be righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for before he was taken up, he was attested to have been pleasing to God. And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for the one who comes to God must believe that He exists, and that He proves to be One who rewards those who seek Him. By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.” You know that Hebrews 11 goes on further talking about great acts of faith. And how did all these people accomplish all these things by faith? And how can we have faith that all these things are true? Because our God is faithful. And He’s still working in our world and in our lives- even when we are in the midst of a personal winter and God’s goodness seems far away.

So if you’re currently finding yourself in a wintery season of life, your spring is near. Keep the faith, believe that God is working.