The hope spring gives...

These last couple of weeks something has been stirring inside of me. We are embarking on a new season in our life and this time of year makes me get a little anxious anyway with spring on the horizon. I had one of those moments when I felt my soul being touched by the lord.

In the ugly brown-gray ground, you see little shoots of green. New life is emerging, this is what I am feeling deep inside too. I have been stretched beyond my abillity to comprehend but yet I feel the deep growth of all those promises I have tried to convince myself about- mainly the one saying that God does have a plan for us, one that gives us hope. They have taken root, and are growing.

I am not going to pretend either, every day of this journey has its own challenges. I may not fully understand things, but I know that this too will pass. Just like winter. Winter is exciting when you start out- the snow, hot chocolate, christmas, new years, but the time between winter and spring is hard. I long for spring. I long for the spring in our life. I long for new life and the realized promises it brings.

If you have ever planted bulbs in the fall, you know that they require cold weather to grow in the spring. Well, this is a great metaphor of the "winter" in our life. That season is necessary for the spring growth. My spring is coming- I can smell it.

So my new book I am reading is by my favorite author- Phillip Yancey. It is called Prayer, Does it make a difference. Reading it feels like reacqainting myself with an old friend. I appreciate Yancey's humanity. He is not like a typical christian author. He readily admits that he is no expert in prayer, but a student like all of us. He writes:

If prayer stands as the place where God and human beings meet, then I must learn
about prayer. Most of my struggles in the Christian life circle around the same
two themes: why God doesn't act the way we want God to, and why I don't act the
way God wants me to. Prayer is the precise poin where those themes converge.

I am looking forward to reading about this and the next few months of our journey. I hope this post was an encouragement.