Moving Forward in Faith

Seasons of Faith.  I'm going to be honest about how I came up with the recent name change of my blog.  It was mid January and the polar vortex was in full force.  No doubt I was buried under a pile of blankets and wearing layers of wool socks, as I watched the news reporter predict a week of sub-zero temps.  Stir-crazy and angry, I decided that if I was going to make it through the next three (to seven) months of winter in the Midwest, I had to change my thinking.  I resolved to see life in seasons not based on weather, but instead on the new opportunities and situations that came my way, and to be grateful for the changes and blessings that came along with them.  I can't say that there weren't days that I didn't curse the snow I walked on, but it did help. And then there was daylight savings and a more recent trend of warmer, spring-like weather which has also helped me maintain my sanity.

The funny thing about looking at life in seasons, is they can change just as quickly as the weather in Minnesota.  One day things are going in one direction, and then in a blink of an eye, life shifts gears and sends you spinning. This happened to my best friend, Amanda.

We met in college, both freshman in the education program with dreams of becoming teachers and changing the world.  We took all of the same classes, loathed the same professors, did our student teaching together, and even subbed at the same schools after graduation.  Then the time came to start applying for our first teaching positions.  I landed my first job within a few months as a kindergarten teacher in my hometown.  Unfortunately Amanda had a tougher time finding a position.  It was over two years of searching, when she had almost completely given up on ever finding a job, that she was finally offered a position as a kindergarten teacher! All of her waiting had paid off and her dream of changing the lives of students was finally coming true.  That was until she was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer just a few weeks later.  

Amanda and I have been through a lot together, the good and bad.  We laughed our way through the horrible subbing placements (and the margaritas that usually followed).  She made sure that in the weeks and months following my mom's death that I didn't fall behind in school by emailing professors and submitting my assignments. I know by now that if she calls me three times in a row, its BIG news.  Like the day her boyfriend proposed.  Or the day she found the lump.  

Like I said, life is unpredictable, and the hope that we can control every part of our life--a joke.  However, God is the unchanging-He is the same today as He was yesterday and His love for us is never-ending. 

"For the mountains may move and the hills disappear, but even then my faithful love for you will remain. My covenant of blessing will never be broken," says the LORD, who has mercy on you" (Isaiah 54:10). 

Through each season of change, we can trust in the One who is sovereign, who is using each and every trial to renew our faith and bring us closer  to Him.  

It has been raining non-stop here in Minnesota for the last two weeks, and although I'm seriously vitamin D deficient (and perma-crabby), I have faith that with rain comes new life. I have hope that in the midst of the storm, God is working all things for the good, and soon the sun will return and the grass, never the greener.