Seasons of Change

By Lorraine Hossington

Winter is coming and the days are getting shorter and I already begin to look forward to when the clocks will change and the light nights will return. But there is a reason that God has created all different seasons in the year, just as there are seasons that we must go through in our own lives.

I know that in my own life there have been stormy winters that have been hard and I wondered will this ever end! Why is this happening? But looking back I can see where God has been with me through these times. A few years ago I lost my job due to ill-health. I had been working in the same place for twenty-eight years and then suddenly I had no job, no money and wondered how I would survive.

One day whilst I walked in the town centre I started to pray, crying out to God asking him for his help. He gave me a picture of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace. And I felt him say to me. As I walked in the furnace with them this is how I will walk with you. (Dan 3:25) And God has walked with me in the furnace and has answered my prayers. He hasn’t left me destitute or in need. He has blessed me with restoration and has given me a new life. One that I would never have dreamed of for myself.

When we go through times of trial it can be hard to trust in God, even though we know he is always with us and wants what’s best for our lives. Yet if we persevere to the end we see how his plan has worked out for us. Maybe not the way we thought it would turn out, but the way God wanted it to happen.

It says in Jeremiah 29:11 that he has a good plan for our lives. No matter what we are going through God will show us a way through even during the toughest times.

But what I love about God is he gives us more than just one season. We have four of them and at the end of winter we have spring a time for new growth and new beginnings. Flowers and plants start to bud, and soon are in full bloom. I feel better knowing that the days are longer and the sun takes it’s time in setting. In Song of Songs 2:11:12 it talks about winter being over and how spring has come. A time for looking forward to what’s ahead.

Summer and autumn also have their own unique way in creation. In writing terms I guess spring can be the beginning of a novel, summer the middle and autumn coming to its close and finally winter is when THE END is written.

Maybe through our times of hardship and trials it can help us to write from the heart because we have been through something difficult and come out of the other side. We understand and can empathise with someone else who is going through it. The other person could be a fictional character that you are writing about or a friend.

After going through a difficult patch I have looked back over that time and realise where God has been during the rocky places of my life. Or read a journal and seen his hand on my life. He has always been there. Even when feeling totally alone I know he is always there. For those of you that feel isolated and that you can’t carry on anymore. I just want to encourage you and say you are not on your own. God is with you he will never leave you. He loves you too much.

About Lorraine Hossington

I write contemporary romance and historical romance (as yet unpublished). I'm single, and live in Cardiff in the U.K, where I love to read and write letting my imagination run free.