We live on the Mediterranean Sea, so when I say I hate winter, I am fully aware that the month or so of cold and rain that we endure is nothing compared to most of the world. But still, I hate it. When winter comes and I start to get cold, I feel unmotivated, lazy, totally incapable of making any decisions, dead. I know we need the rain, I know the cold won't last forever, but still, in the midst of it, I'm miserable.  

Life's winters are difficult as well. When our last term started, both my husband and I were on a high. We felt like we were exactly where we'd wanted to be for so long, and couldn't imagine things being better. Ministry was fun, we were seeing fruit, we were well-connected and growing and so excited about the future.  

By the end of that term, we felt like everything around and in us was dead. Nothing went right, everything seemed to fall apart, we had no idea if we should even stay or leave, without even a dream about what we would want to do next. We were stuck in winter.  

But winter never lasts. “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease” (Genesis 8:22). This is the rhythm the Lord set out for the earth, and we see this pattern in life as well. There can be gospel beauty in the death we find in winter, because out of that death comes new life. 

In Nichole Nordeman's song, she sings about this transition from winter to spring. “Even now in death, You open doors for life to enter…. And everything that's new has bravely surfaced, teaching us to breathe.” 

Personally, we are just starting to see hints of what is coming. A ministry brought back to life, a new opportunity, the ability to dream again. The season of winter, of loss and confusion was hard, but God is good at making dead things alive, and we trust that we will see that miracle as we enter into our season of spring.