Are you stuck in a season?

 

Below is a brief overview of the new book By Elizabeth Enlow, “God in Every Season”. You can find her book on Amazon or check out Elizabeth and her husband Johnny Enlow’s, website https://www.restore7.org/.  Using the symbol of seasons Elizabeth reviews the season that we flow in and out of naturally as we live our life in relationship with Jesus.

She shares an overview of each season, what we can expect, its purpose and I love that she also adds the lies and dangers that we may experience in each season. I urge you to purchase the book. I cannot do the work justice in a few lines.

WINTER, Rest – intimacy

She begins her review speaking of Hannah who was childless and cried out to the Lord. She was afraid of never having a child, of being barren and unfruitful for the rest of her life. Elizabeth says when we are in a winter season it is a common fear to feel unfruitful or have a fear of losing, being overtaken, and becoming a failure.

What is really cool about God is that whenever we cry out, he always satisfies.

Her blog reports, winter seasons commonly make our hearts vulnerable to the lie of loneliness. She continues with other lies you may experience are typically about God — that He doesn’t care, isn’t near, etc.

It is important to remember He created us for a purpose and He desires that we complete that purpose.

The danger of winter, The danger in this season is that it’s easy to lose hope, become lulled to sleep, or simply survive — altogether missing the opportunity for intimacy and conception.

I think she has provided a great word picture of the emotions and states of mind that could be connected to a season in our life much like winter.

 

SPRING, Birth – travail, beginning

I vaguely remember the birth of my four daughters who are all adults now. I have this memory in the back of all memories that it wasn’t pleasant. I do remember telling my daughters dad when I was about to give birth to my fourth daughter than I wasn’t interested in doing it again. They have been such a joy in my life.  They are the best thing I have ever accomplished. However their birth, the actual birthing was the low point.  When we think of birth we think of new life and joy. When we hear the word travail, the image changes.

Specifically, common fears in springtime are the fear of more pain, the fear of being vulnerable, and the fear of having to rely on others. Just like travail before birth, we think we cannot handle anymore.

Spring seasons commonly make our hearts vulnerable to the very real temptation to live in regret and question what we originally asked God for. Don’t give into the temptation to allow weariness to overtake you so much you lose it and you have to start over.

The danger of spring is to abort the new thing God is birthing in and through you.

SUMMER, Growth, and work

The summer season of our soul is a time of so much growth and work that we don’t have a lot of time on our hands to entertain fear. But if you slow down enough to give it some thought, you may realize a fear that’s just below the surface — the fear that you’ve gained what you asked for, but you’re not sure if He’s really in it and if He’s pleased. It’s not that things are necessarily going bad, which could make you wonder what you’ve done wrong. It’s more than you’re so busy that you can’t feel as much intimacy with Him right now. With all that busyness we can begin to fear we are disappointing God.

A lie that you’ll most likely need to combat is that you’re not as close to God as you used to be.

The danger of the summer season of our soul is that we often haven’t paced ourselves for the tests and pace of this particular season. A long, hot summer can wear us down and we compromise for any sense of relief. It’s critical now to purposefully connect with God in ways that help you shut out all other potential loves. You can be so busy that you forget to acknowledge His involvement and invite Him into all decisions. You can also be so busy that you feel guilty about all you’re involved in (practically or emotionally)

FALL, Celebration

Fall is one of my personal favorites, I am originally from Michigan and I love the fall colors.  The leaves turn and the days become cooler. Kids go back to school and life takes on a familiar routine. I do like the fall.

We celebrate Thanksgiving in the fall, we thank the Lord for his bounty and we gather the harvest of many crops. It seems that it is the beginning of the end of a fruitful place.

A fear that’s common in the fall season is that you’ll never bear fruit again. Other fears you may face in your soul in a fall season is the fear of letting go and the fear of what’s next.

No matter how much work you’ve done to get to this place, don’t believe the lie that you’ve accomplished it in your own strength. The problem with believing that lie is that it will keep you stuck working when you could be resting and celebrating. The opposite lie but as damaging is the lie that can stifle your harvest celebration is that it wasn’t good enough.

Strangely, a season where we should feel the most mature can actually tempt us to be triggered back to our more immature ways of processing. You may be tempted, like a toddler with its toys, to hold on tightly to what you’ve accomplished or gained.

Don’t be tempted to stop moving forward, to stop increasing. Maybe you’re happy with where you’ve landed in this season, and you should be, but don’t stay too long.

Finally, the danger in fall for any of us in this season the danger is to keep the glory for our self and make it all about us, Satan did the same thing.

I think her book is brilliant! I think we should all think carefully about what season we are currently in.  Are we acknowledging the positives of the season we are currently in, are we struggling with any of the lies that are prevalent?  This book is worth looking at several times a year, maybe we need to review it whenever we sense that we may have changed seasons.