Encouragement For Hard Times

 

I recently published an article explaining the small blessings I discovered in my garden, despite the worst drought we'd experienced in about ten years. What I didn't talk about there was the worry that had begun to plague me. You see, our only source of water comes from four water storage tanks, and by August, they were getting low enough to strike dismay into my heart. 

The drought of a decade ago lasted around two years. Was this one going to be like that? If not, we would be fine. Even if I'd gardened this past summer, we would be fine. But if the weather wasn't going to change, we were going to have to really buckle down and be even more conservative with our water usage than we already were.

And then...

And then, it started to rain. Small amounts, here and there. Then, after the first week of November, El Nino took over in all his splendor. And just like that, we were having normal mid-fall weather. The tanks began to refill. The ground began to turn greener. The temperatures cooled, and I was able to take a nice, long break from watering the kale and lettuce that I'd planted a couple months earlier.

Thousands of years ago, the third king of Israel, King Solomon, wrote that to everything there is a season. A time to laugh, a time to cry, a time to live, a time to die. 

A time of drought, a time of rain, may I add.

In other words, no season of life lasts forever. The world is in a constant state of change. 

Having experienced this ebb and flow of life for so many years, I now feel more than a bit silly for having worried so over the weather. I knew deep down in my heart of hearts that eventually, the rains would return. 

This, too, shall pass.

You might find yourself in a difficult season of life right now. You may be grieving, struggling to find or keep a job, fighting your way out of debt, facing unfair legal action against you, wrestling with a relationship, seeking answers for a recent, dire diagnosis. 

Or perhaps you simply feel dry inside, as if you're just going through the motions, treading water without any sense of purpose or direction. Whatever situation, whichever circumstances you find yourself in, let me encourage you that this, too, shall pass. Your season of life will change. And chances are good, the next season will bring as much joy as the current one has brought worry and heartache.

 Chances are good, your next season will be a time of relief.

Peace to you, and may blessing abound in every area of your life.