The temperatures are starting to cool down (most days anyway). The leaves are changing. Milky Way is closing for the season – which means no more delicious ice cream. Pumpkins are showing up EVERYWHERE.
What could this mean?
Summer is over and…..
And I don’t like it.
Listen, I’m a beach girl. I like the sun, the ocean breeze, the sand in my toes, and the smell of salt water. And where did God put me? In South Dakota. As far from a beach as possible where winter lasts for half of the year!
I mean seriously, who truly loves winter? Who enjoys the freezing cold?
Now, I had someone recently tell me. “I like to be where there aren’t spiders the size of your fist and bugs aren’t everywhere all the time. There’s no snakes. No alligators. No hurricanes.”
My counter argument. You shiver. You face burns from the icy winds. You lose feelings in your fingers and toes, you can’t even move them from the stiffness that the cold supplies. Oh, and don’t forget the snot that gets frozen to your face while you’re shoveling that dreaded white stuff!
So the other day, I was driving downtown to meet my husband for coffee and it was around 50 degrees out. (Remember beach girl here, anything under 65 is cold to me). I’m looking around at the leaves falling – it was a windy day. And it was cold. And I started grumbling. It’s cold. Winter is coming. Soon everything is going to die! The trees will be bare. The green grass is long gone. You won’t see the sun as often. It’ll be that time of hibernation where everything is still and quiet when you go outside because no one and no creature wants to be outside facing the weather.
And then I was given this thought.
“If it didn’t die, it couldn’t be rebirthed in the spring bringing beauty and life to everyone around it.”
And then given this verse….
Behold, I am doing a new thing. Now it shall spring forth.
Isaiah 43:19
Spring forth. Winter causes things to die, yes. But then it is renewed. A new creation comes springtime. Aren’t we made to do the same? God has called us to die to our old selves and become a new creation in Christ.
Therefore we are buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also should walk in newness of life
Romans 6:4
It’s a hard thing to go through our winters. Through the tough times, but we need to remember that even in the winters, there is a springtime that God has called us to. The winters won’t last forever.
We have to put away the former things like is states in Isaiah and let our light – our springtime – shine before others so they may see Christ shine through us.
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:16
It isn’t easy. Sometimes it’s easier to go back to our winter. To who we were before we found Christ. To go back to what we were used to than to change and be who Christ has called us to.
So what do we do?
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…
Romans 12:2
We need to ground ourselves in the Word and spend time with Him daily. When we feel ourselves faltering, we spend time in prayer and renew our mind back to what the Word says and what He has called us to. Remember that winter is just a season. Springtime is just around the corner.
angelaschmeling 
One response to “Dead to Life”
I love this post! I’m actually going through a tough time right now, and when the seasons change, I’m reminded that even the winters in our life (as you said) change as well.
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