The sun is beautiful today, reflecting it’s glory off the snow-covered ground that’s been our view for the last three months. For most of the cold-belt, it’s been the winter of all winters. Over 100 inches of snow in our area. The winter that’ll never end.
Despite the single degree weather this week, today it’s above freezing. Standing in my driveway, I hear water running down our eaves-spouts. Evidence of a spring thaw slowly beginning.
Do you need a spring thaw? More than just the one that melts the snow on your porch, yard, and driveway?
Where does life’s winter grip you? Is it a relationship, a dead-end job, a season of life, a low-grade depression that just won’t shake? There are things in life that grip you, leaving you cold and trapped like the relentless winter of debilitating storms. Even though you life live, you long for something different. You get restless for the hope and beauty of spring, of something new that will usher you out of darkness.
Changes sometimes come by riding out the storm, just like the vegetation in our yard is waiting for the snow to melt. Sometimes life’s conditions are more stagnant, requiring a difficult choice for a draining situation. While people complained this winter, I’ve heard others say, “If you don’t like it, move.”
The same principle applies when feeling trapped, when you can’t find joy, or don’t think things will change. If the natural course doesn’t change the situation, change comes by your choice of what to do in the situation.
“It is what it is, so what are you going to do about it?”
The answer to the question may be found in a hard decision for your best interest or that of your family. It may be 
changing jobs, moving, downsizing, stepping down from commitments, changing your eating habits or taking a risk by trying something new. It might be addressing a toxic relationship with someone who won’t change. It might be facing your own hurt and pain by seeking professional help or changing an attitude that keeps you in bondage. Whatever is needed, how can you bring the hope of spring thaw to the winter in your life?
When walking from the cold of winter to the warmth of summer, God equips us to step out to be the catalyst for change in our life. It’s easy to blame God or others for your circumstances, wondering why He isn’t answering your prayers. God isn’t an enabler. He equips us with everything we need to step into Hope, but we need to take the first step to let the thaw begin.
What do you need to trust God with as you step into change and new freedoms? How can we encourage you ? How can we pray for your situation? I’d love to do that.
God’s mercies are new every morning, His hope found in the birth of spring and new life. If you don’t know this life-giving hope through a relationship with Jesus Christ, will you consider inviting Him into your winter, allowing Him to equip you to walk towards Hope and Victory? If you want to know more about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and the new birth it brings, email me at yoderbl@gmail.com.
Father, thank you that you are the source of new life, of refreshing life, and of change. Thank you for giving us everything we need to step out of our darkness and into your Light. Thank you for giving us choice and the ability to walk in your strength. Will you meet our needs today? Thank you.
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