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Proverbs 6:6-8  Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!
⁷ It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,
⁸ yet it stores its provisions in summer

    and gathers its food at harvest.

Everybody will go through seasons they would rather skip –

but there is strength for every season if we know how to weather it

Don’t go into the new season holding a grudge from last season. Leave the hurts and disappointments behind.

Nothing in life has happened to you. It’s happened for you. Every disappointment. Every wrong. Even every closed door has helped make you into who you are.

I believe if you keep your faith, you keep your trust, you keep the right attitude, if you’re grateful, you’ll see God open up new doors to your new season.

The question is not, ‘are you having a hard season?’ The question is, ‘Does the hard season have you?’

Some seasons are hard because of a decision you made (i.e., not every season is God’s decision). So if you’re in a season of debt, that season will require obedience/doing some things differently. But we don’t always know the reason for the seasons that God lets us go through.

In the winter, you can’t see what’s happening in the ground to prepare for spring.

Winter makes way for spring; it’s a preparation process

God is the gardener; He understands the process.

o If you’re going to walk this thing out – really live for God and grow to be the person God wants you to be (even when it doesn’t feel good)

In winter, the ground gets to rest; nutrients are rejuvenated in the soil

I’m the kind of Christian that shows up in the cold, because I know that God is doing something in the cold months to prepare me for what’s ahead.

Fare weather faith doesn’t cut it.

If you don’t stay connected to God and bear fruit, or  you get cut off and thrown away

If you stay connected to God, you get cut back Either way you get cut – but I’d rather be cut back than cut off; I’d rather stay connected to Him than walk through the season without Him

Pruning isn’t pleasant but at least it has a purpose.

Just remain. Hold.

Don’t leave. And if you don’t leave, you can’t lose.

If you leave in the winter, you’re going to miss when things start blossoming in the spring.

God looks for people that He can use to prove to the world that His faithfulness goes beyond feelings or circumstances.

God has a point to prove….that light can shine bright in the darkness. And he uses you and I to prove that point!

Especially when we are going through our darkest nights – our darkest times and our darkest moments!

You may not know why you’re going through a particular situation. But when you allow God to prepare you and prune you, He gets to prove through you that He is glorious in you. You get to bear fruit (reveal the glory of God), showing the world what real peace and joy look like.