Good morning, world. Things are looking pretty good from the front porch of my farm in Virginia today. Everywhere you look from this old farm you’ll see the signs of the Fall season…from the changing colors to the leaves that have left the trees and are now on the ground. I can enjoy the Work of His Hands from anywhere I sit (on and off the farm), and no matter the season; it all looks good to me. I marvel at His Majesty. He changes the seasons of my Life the same way He changes the seasons in the world around me, and I know that each one has a Divine Purpose for me. As long as I consider each Season to be driven by the King; I’ll keep rolling with the flow and looking for the Good through it all. Isn’t that what you do to?

I have had so many different Seasons in my life. Some were filled with joy and some were out-shadowed by despair. Some were focused merely on survival and some were so busy that I overlooked the need to pause to enjoy the Season itself. There has been a Season or two in my Life where I had no desire to step out onto the front porch at all, and pausing at this window to take in the view wouldn’t have even hit my radar screen. Some Seasons were like a breath of wind…they came and they went very quickly. But there has been a Season or two that took the wind out of my sails for a while and I allowed them last too long because of it. No matter the Season, the good and the not-so-good, they have all had a Divine Purpose for me and each Season has lead me to where I am today. I have been Tenderized by the King through parts of my journey and I’ve been Seasoned by the King through it all. I’ve been broken and then built back up to become a Vessel that can be used by the Living God and there is no greater honor…not in this Season called “life” and not for eternity. It’s on that Journey “back up” that we find our Strength and we see the Purpose behind the Season, and until we can “get” that part; we can’t grow through the Seasons at all.

When you’ve lived through Seasons that are colorless; it’s easy to see the Beauty once the veil is lifted and Life gets back on track. I don’t miss much in Life anymore because I’ve been taught to see the beauty in it all. I’ve learned about priorities the hard way and I’ve been reminded of the frailty of my life. One of the biggest Lesson of all, and one that took a few very difficult Seasons for me to grasp, is that when I “face trials of many kinds” that I am supposed to “consider it pure joy”…NOT because I’m going through the Trial…but because of the Lessons I’ll learn in the in the process. It’s those trials that will transform me into a better version of me and the trials will make me Stronger….IF I understand that there is Divine Purpose in the Season itself. Now that I’m on this side of so many refining Seasons, it’s very difficult for me to see other people hitting the “rough spots” and moving on without learning anything at all. It’s difficult to listen to the whining as people question the Living God as if because they Know Him they should have an easier time of it. It’s sad to see how few understand that bad things DO happen to Good people…for a Divine Purpose and that it will “ALL work together for good” whether we see the Purpose on this side of Heaven or not! I wonder what it will take for Him to finally get their attention?

I’m enjoying the Fall season of this year…I’m enjoy the Fall season of my life AND I’m celebrating all those Seasons that have refined me so that I can be used by the King of Kings and ALL of those things that transformed me into the woman I am today. I’m a child of the Living God…I’m a willing Vessel…and I am living proof that “ALL things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose”.  I wouldn’t change a thing.

How about you?