The other day I was praying about a potential job change. I asked Holy Spirit to give me a verse to encourage my heart and He immediately laid Ecclesiastes 3:1 on my heart. So, in gratefulness, I turned to that scripture in my Bible then I heartily laughed out loud.

Ecc 3:1 There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under heaven.

I laughed out of full Joy in the Spirit of God for helping me to see that He was asking me to make my job change. I laughed out of full Joy knowing that God is deeply involved and concerned in every aspect of my life, not just my “churchy” activities. I laughed because God gave me that gift in our relationship and I am beyond honored to share that closeness with my Abba-Father.

Now that scripture can stand alone but it does us good and provides more wisdom if we continue to read..

Ecc 3:1-8

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

These words are attributed to King Solomon written in the end years of his life. They are words inspired by God to be penned by the one toted as the “wisest man to ever live”. Solomon had much wisdom and yet he did not live a perfect life, in fact, he struggled with earthly charms. However, in the later years of his wisdom-filled life he wrote these words to help us understand that life is life.

Life is Life and there are times for every season that we go through. It’s not all love and roses, there are also times of sadness and thorns. As we walk through life on earth we will eventually live through each one of these times. Some are good – like laughing and dancing. Some are hard – like weeping and mourning. But, we, as believers in God and the Grace of Jesus, can walk in confidence no matter the time of life we are in. We can walk in that confidence because we know that God will never leave us, nor forsake us. He is with us in the laughing and dancing times and He is with us in the weeping and mourning times.

There is no one closer to us than God in all of our times. If you don’t feel the presence of God in your time, reach out to Him. He is with you, whether you feel Him or not. All you need to do is Ask Him to reveal Himself to you and trust that He will.

One guaranteed way to find Him is to dust off and crack open that bible on your shelf. God has given us His Word as a guide, as a comfort and as His love letter to us. But, without reading those Words we cannot possibly know or understand the depths of His love for us. God is a gentleman and He will not force Himself on us. Rather, He desires that we draw near to Him and He will immediately, and with reckless abandon, draw nearer to us.

I encourage you to take a moment and reflect on what time it is in your life right now. Regardless of your current season there are always reasons to give thanks. God is not one-dimensional and likewise neither are our lives. Don’t buy the lie that if your life is not perfect you cannot be happy. Rather recognize the wisdom of times and seasons in your life and realize that if you are in a mourning season, it is just that, a season. Hold to God and know that you will one day again have a dancing season.

Go in Grace into this Thanksgiving holiday knowing that you will experience many seasons in life. Give thanks for this season, even if it isn’t a happy one as it is often in those sad seasons that we grow in our faith in God and compassion for others. God loves you and is with you in EVERY season, and that alone is reason to give thanks!

Blessings and Love,

Pamela