Winter is coming...

In life there are seasons.  There is fresh crispy spring, hot sunny summer, warm cozy fall, and WINTER...:/

Apart from Christmas, winter is a long, dreary season(sorry for all you winter lovers out there).  It's cold outside, and hot & stuffy inside, it's cloudy, or super clear bright blue sunny skies deceive you into thinking it's a nice day but it really isn't.  It's wet, it's dark and it's long...did I already mention that?

And... because God is so gosh darn creative, most things that happen in the physical realm are paralleled in the spiritual.  So we have WINTER season too!  Just great!

Just like winter weather, spiritual winters we feel cold, or too "hot" on the inside(frustrated), our minds are clouded, or we have those days where we are super cheerful and bright like everything is okay, but we are only deceiving ourselves because they aren't.  Winter seasons are wet from all the tears, dark because usually  we encounter them alone... and long...very long!!

I must admit my seasons tend be adjacent to the weather.  So that means...winters coming.  With the arrival of any new season we prepare. We prepare our wardrobes, our homes, thermostats and cars. How much more do we need to prepare spiritually for the winter seasons in our lives.

As a young convert a brother from my mother church preached a sermon I would never forget called "The Spring Thaw" (I hope I got it correctly).  This sermon always was a reference point for me, that what you do during the winter will determine your "Springs" outcome.

So here are some of the things I plan on doing to prepare for winter!

1)Beat Cabin Fever & Date Jesus-I plan weekly to go somewhere by myself and have a Date with Jesus.  Last week I went for soup, sat and read my bible and silently meditated on my precious Saviour.  These moments out and alone with God help me to remember I am not alone, and the best company I could ever have is Him!!

2)Wearing Warmer Garments- Whenever I have a tough season usually a specific scripture gets me through.  Some of my past Warm Garments are '
-Ps 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.
-Gal 6:7 God is not mocked whatever a mans sows, he shall reap
-Heb 9:27 It is appointed man to die once then judgement.
-Gal 6:9 Do not grow weary in doing good, for your will reap a harvest if you don't give up.
-Mat 19:26 With men things are impossible but with God all things are possible...ooh just writing these just made me all warm and fuzzy inside! The word of God is powerful folks!!

3)Adjust my Thermostat-Just like when it gets cooler outside we start to turn the heat up in our home, when a cold season it coming, we need to turn the thermostat up in our hearts.  We need to quit being cool, luke warm christians and get revved up!  I listened to a sermon today  about Luke Warmness and the Pastor challenged congregation to  pray these three things in prayer at the end of his service.
God show me what areas in my life I am luke warm.
God give me the strength to change these areas in my life.
God do whatever you need to, to make me change these areas in my life, even if it means taking away my family, home, job, whatever would be a stumbling block to me being on fire for you!
(can you say ouch to the last one?)

I truly believe if we would do these things in our "Spiritual Autumns" we could overcome our spiritual winters.  Because winter IS coming...