Greetings to all my dear brothers and sisters! My prayer is that you are enjoying the favor of the Lord in your life at this time. If you happen to be living in the East, Midwest and Southern part of our nation, I also pray you are keeping warm.

For those of us who are living in the other half of our nation where we have been experiencing a record breaking warm winter, if is painful to watch those images of snow storm after snow storm that continue to pound the other half of our nation. Pretty much the entire Eastern half of our nation is in the ice box; experiencing temperatures 25-45 degrees below normal. Some of the lows that have been recorded this year in the Eastern half of our nation makes my bones hurt whenever I see them posted by the weather spokesperson. I loved what one weather spokes person said the other day as they reported on the bitter winter some are experiencing right now. After she reported the bad news that another snow storm was coming with more snow and more bitter cold temperatures, she then said, ‘On the bright side, Spring begins on 3:46pm Friday March 20th!’

All of us, at one time or another, have experienced those deep cold dark times of our life; times where it continues to snow and snow with trials and tribulations, with no let up in sight and then a dear brother or sister in the Lord comes up to us and and says, “Rejoice, for the sun is about to shine in your life! Springs is coming!”You know they mean well when they say those encouraging words to us but let’s also be honest; there are times when we just want to slap them (in a nice way) right after they said that to us that, right!!!

In those cold, dark times of our life, where the snow of tribulations continue to fall upon us, that we totally relate to David’s words  in Psalm 31:10 “My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction and my bones grow weak.” or David’s words in Psalm 55:4-7 “My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death assail me. Fear and trembling have beset me; horror has overwhelmed me. I said, ‘Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest – I would fly far away and stay in the desert.” 

Let’s be honest, at one time or another we have all gone to a dear brother or sister who was experiencing those dark times in their life and we tried to encourage them that tomorrow would be better; the sun will come out tomorrow, as the song says. It’s a good thing that we do that but the sun coming out tomorrow, spring arriving is not the answer to those cold dark times in any of our lives.

I can only imagine that those who are seeing those high piles of snow only get higher and the bitter cold temps have now gotten very old, are so looking to the bright sunny skies of Spring and rightly so. Yet, Spring is only for a season; those dark cold days of Winter will come again.

Psalm 84:5-7 “Blessed are ‘those’ whose strength is in You (Lord), who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength , till each appears before God in Zion.”

The Valley of Baca represents those cold, dark days of constant snow in our life; those times of weeping,  those difficult times of mourning in our lives that will come. The word that is used for pilgrimage here represents the course, the path, the highway we will take in life till we appear before God in Zion. All of our paths, all of our highways will have cold dark times of tribulation and trials but the psalmist says we are to turn those inevitable cold dark times of trials and tribulations into places of springs, where the autumn rains cover those dark times with pools.

Isaiah 12:2-3 “Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation. With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” It was also the same David who wrote in Psalm 18:16-17 “He (Lord) reached down from on high and took hold of me; He drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.” David then goes to write in Psalm 18:28 “You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.”  David also says in Psalm 18:32 “It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.”

Yes, Spring for the entire Eastern half of our nation will be a much welcomed and needed time for them to thaw out and get a break from this bitter Winter. But the truth is that Winter will come again with all its fury and circle goes round and round. Trials and tribulations will come to our life but we have a choice as to what effect they will have upon us. The Lord will be with us in those cold dark times of our life but will we choose to turn those cold dark times in our life into places of spring and joy, where the autumn rains of the Lord continues to flow!!

The season of Spring indeed is coming and will be gladly welcomed by many in our nation but in all reality, my dear brother and sister, the season of Spring will soon leave and before long, Winter will return. The true Spring, Jesus Christ, the wellspring of life is not coming because the truth is that He has never left our side. The question before all believers is, do others see the true Spring, Jesus Christ living and active in our dark times???