I feel like the Lord’s been confirming to share this word from a few months ago… I pray it will find and minister to whoever needs it. I know many are grieving present and past loss.

During our trip to Nashville in October, we were praying for a friend who’s going through serious trials and, to make matters worse, was being attacked with suicidal thoughts from the enemy – one of his favorite counterfeit ways of escape he offers from seemingly unbearable suffering. The Lord had already led me to share some things to help her II Cor 10:3-5 these thoughts, but as we were driving to the conference one day, He gave more.

As I admired the trees that were changing colors, He began impressing on my heart lessons that we should learn from the SEASONS. I specifically felt like He was drawing my attention to the change and loss trees go through in Fall and Winter. I imagined what it would be like if a tree tried to assess its life in those seasons, without the knowledge that Spring and Summer would come again.

I thought about how we would counsel a distraught tree in this situation – that was looking at its life, feeling like everything was falling apart and that it was losing everything. What would we say to a tree that was looking at its circumstances and beginning to entertain lies of hopelessness and helplessness from the enemy – that nothing would ever change for the better, that promise and purpose were over, and that it was too painful to go on?

Armed with the knowledge we have about SEASONS, I knew that we would try to persuade the tree to hold on because better days are ahead. We would encourage the tree to have hope and believe that though this is indeed a painful time of change and loss, that new life, growth, beauty, increase and fruitfulness were on the way, if it didn’t believe those lies and give up in Fall and Winter.

Though this was certainly a moment when it felt like the Lord was speaking to me to the core of my being, I wasn’t 100% sure whether it was Him or just my own thoughts…

Several days later, we arrived back home and immediately listened to the replay of the message from our church we’d missed that morning (10-22-23). We were in awe as we listened to the guest speaker, Joel Stockstill, share a message entitled, “A Season of Burial”, inspired by his own tragic testimony of loss. He encouraged those who have been through disappointments, losses, and burials of different kinds, to recognize that God intends for these times to be A SEASON – relating this to the seasons of the year we experience in nature – and that if we’ll hold onto Him, and allow Him to walk us through the process, He wants to bring us through to resurrection and new life on the other side! It was a beautiful, timely confirmation of what I felt the Lord had spoken to my heart days earlier – and just what we needed to be fully persuaded it was truly HIM!

In case my friend, or others hearing this, would have been tempted to dismiss what I felt the Lord spoke to me as a nice analogy, but in reality just false, empty hope – I pray the swift confirmation He brought was profound encouragement that instead this was His genuine word of hope for her and us all.

For those who would like to hear this message, you can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZjMKonllM0&t=2506s – the sermon begins around 44:45 in. I believe it’s certainly worth hearing.

Our hearts go out to all who are suffering and grieving. We’ve heard of several more difficult losses in these past few weeks. Praying for all!

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