 He has made everything beautiful in its time.” Here in sunny Southwest Florida, we don’t experience the Fall in the same way as they do up north. Up north it’s obvious, the colors change, the trees shed their leaves and the weather becomes noticeably cooler. In Florida not much changes in September; it is still hot, humid and we are on hurricane watch. If you’re not paying attention, it is easy to miss the fact that a new season has begun.
For nearly 10 years after being saved, I was very much like the Fall in Florida; I was changed, (saved through faith in Jesus Christ), but I was still experiencing the weather conditions from the previous season of my life. I continued to carry around my shame and regrets, unwilling to release them to the Lord. I thought that somehow if I kept lugging them around that I could make up for the wickedness of my youth. You see, I was a saved Christian, but I was not experiencing my salvation as God intended. I was in a new season, but I was missing out on the fullness of its beauty, because I was too focused on the ugliness of my past. The Bible says in Psalm 146:8 that, “the Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous.” We serve a God who loves us so much that He refuses to idly watch as His children stay bowed down, cowering in the shadow of what used to be. Instead, He mercifully reaches down and draws us out of the darkness of yesteryear, so that our eyes may be opened to the beauty of a new day lived for Jesus Christ. Last year in September 2019, God made an obvious change in my spirit as He lifted me out of a season of lingering despair and opened my eyes to a new era of joy. He had given me healing from hurt that I never thought I could get over. Until that moment, I was unaware of what it truly felt like to live as a new creation in Jesus Christ. I learned that God does not just want us to be saved, but that He truly wants us to thrive in our salvation. The Lord has ushered me into a new season and He has plans for me. When I was still carrying around the burdens of my past, my hands were not free to do His work, but now I live with my palms open wide, without shame and ready to serve Him. I may not be able to see what the future seasons of life will hold, but I know the God who holds the seasons. I know that He is faithful and that He will make all things beautiful in His timing. If we aren’t thriving in our salvation, then we are missing out on the glory of what the Lord has done for us. He has given us new life. He has said that, the old is gone and the new has come. Oh, sweet friends, like a northern Fall, let the change that we experience through faith in Jesus Christ be beautiful and obvious.
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