Summertime!

“Look, the winter is past,
    and the rains are over and gone.
The flowers are springing up,
    the season of singing birds has come,
    and the cooing of turtledoves fills the air.” Song of Solomon 2:11-12 NLT

Where I live, we have two seasons. The dry season and the rainy season. It is almost always sunny, except when it’s raining. In some other climates, there are four seasons, and summertime is the most appreciated. Everyone likes the warmth the sun brings. The brightness, the longer days, the different colours of blooming flowers and the vacations! Unfortunately, summer doesn’t last. Before you know it, it starts getting cold and autumn sneaks in. It is the same for us here. The rainy seasons gives way to dry weather and that gives way to rains later. It is the cycle of life.

The same is true for our lives. We go through the seasons that God arranges for us as a nation, as a family, as an individual, as a church. Each season is different and unique for each person. As expected, we enjoy the good seasons more and wish they could last forever. But they don’t. Because the bad seasons also have to come. Each season has a role to play in our development, our maturity and our journey with God.

For me, this has been a very interesting year because I have been through so many different seasons in the last six months. The pandemic on its own has added a variety of feelings and emotions that have opened my eyes to certain truths I had failed to recognize about myself and the people around me. Talk about a reset!

Maybe it’s too early to take stock, because the year is not over yet. But at this point in time, I just want to put  on record a few of the things I have learnt this year.

• Faith is proven in tough times and not ordinary times. When I’m in the midst of crisis, that is when I know whether or not my faith is strong.

• God is always with me. Even though I may not always feel like He is. His word is true, and He will always be with me.

• Fear is real. It can paralyse me and make me forget what is true. But if I take my fear to God in prayer, the fear disappears. I need to keep my eyes on God always.

• Worshipping God in spite of my fears chases my fears away. If I do this several times a day, I will be good and feel good.

• Prayer helps keep fear at bay. When I am in God’s presence, fear cannot remain in me.

• Prayer is not always about asking for things. I can also worship and acknowledge God and His presence comforts me.

• What I feed will grow. If I feed fear, it will grow. If I feed faith, it will grow. I stopped watching the news in the early days of the pandemic because it got me so fearful.

• Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is taking a step when I’m convinced that it is the right thing to do, even though I am afraid.

• God is still on the throne and He has everything under His control. Although the pandemic is not over yet, I can trust Him one day at a time. I can expect Him to see me through it.

• I have an anchor in the midst of the storm. Jesus Christ. I only have to call and He is right there with me.

• I belong to God. So whether I live or die, I will be with Him.

These thoughts got me through the first few weeks of the pandemic. It also helped that I had a group of people that we prayed together regularly online through the first few weeks. I drew strength from those times and as the weeks passed, I found I could stand strong in spite of the fact that the pandemic was still raging.

Now, as we come into the summer season, I feel hopeful that there will be a turnaround. I am hopeful that we are nearer the end of the pandemic than when it first began. I am hopeful that 2020 will still offload its blessings unto us and the Lord will crown the year with His goodness. Are you hopeful too?

Let us delight ourselves in the Lord and praise Him for the second half of this exceptional year.