The term “seasons of life” drives me nuts. I hate when people say that. It’s usually used in reference to a particular stage in family status (single, newly married, wrangling littles, strangling teens, empty nesters). I would agree that life changes sometimes as fast as seasons in a year (or as slow as winter); but still never say that. I think my issue is more that people say that to try to make you feel better about a tough situation. Here are some phrases I’ve heard too much:

“Oh your child is two and is terrible. I remember that season of life. (followed by laughter).”

“Oh you’re single and don’t want to be? What a tough season, but you will miss the freedom when it’s gone.”

“Oh you are raising teenagers? I am so glad I am not in that season.”

The only thing worse is when you are struggling in that”season” and someone calls it sweet or tells you they miss it… How about some practical support here, not mocking graced over with fake sympathy… Really? How about you pray for them and support them dispite the season… I’m so over it…

Reality tells us there are often time periods where God leads us through different things. Sometimes those things bring us great joy and hope for the future, sometimes they make us feel helpless, crippled, stuck, lost… Sometimes you are so busy you can’t breathe, other times you feel like silence is drowning you… It happens to all of us, part of human experience, but don’t let times of ____________ distract you from growth, from love, from dream, from strength, from hope, from what God is doing… God is faithful, He never leaves His children even when He leads them through rough seasons.

Living differently means my “season of life” doesn’t control growing or following what God wants me to do. Time to unplug our faith from us and plug it in to a powerful, faithful God.

When Paul said the word was living and active, he wasn’t kidding. God moves me, gently encourages me, ok beats me over the head with His word all the time. Lately it has been with Moses… Today I was thinking about how God worked in Moses life.. He positioned Moses in the right place, at the right time, Moses was in a good place and everything was going better than anyone could hope. God had saved him and had strategically placed him. Then something crazy happens and this man is tail spinned into a whole new life. He goes from the status of place to royality to nobody at all. His crowd goes from educated elite to stupid sheep. His whole world was rocked. Murder changed him. And there he is… In what seems like a waste… 40 years of sheep hearding doesn’t seem to fullfill any of God’s long term promises to His people…

In the past several years our world has been completely rocked. God was moving us and seemed to working in a ministry we loved. We loved the ministry, the church, the teens, etc. It wasn’t easy, there were challenges, but we felt like we were moving the direction God wanted. Then something changed. Suddenly we were not in that position, we were not in that church, not with those teens. It rocked our world so much we were in shock for quite a while. Suddenly we were alone, waundering, and wondering what was next…. How was any of this going to lead us anywhere… Murdered ministry changed us. It seemed _ years of bullet making doesn’t seem to be fullfilling any of God’s promises or purpose… How did this happen? Why does it seem to just drag on?….

WAKE UP TO REALITY…

God didn’t stop leading Moses when world rocking changed him. God still held his hand and strategically led him. In the 40 years God gave him a new family, blessed him with a wife, and grew him in huge ways.. God used this time to equip Moses with some mad skills. He taught him to live in roughness of wilderness. He gave him a father-in-law who would teach him to be a leader. He took Prince Charles and morphed him with Bear Gryls… wow…God took this time to change who Moses was, to equip him in ways that wouldn’t happen otherwise. Sheep herding was not only a huge catalyst for change, but it was as much of God’s plan as palace dwelling…

For us sheep hearding has been tough… Struggling to build a new definition of church family, to heal from the effects of world rocking, to see who God is and how he works. To deal with every tremmer after the quake, to deal with every tornado, hurricane, and flood totally unrelated that came too. To sit back and wish for redos and at the sametime hope for new oppertunities. Waiting stinks. Learning in all of this that God is true, He is faithful, and He hasn’t left us. God has strategically placed us here… At first alone and waundering. But He brought (is bringing)the right people to support and guide us. He has used His word to shape us and grow us… He is changing us more and more into the people He intends to step out. Our sheep hearding time is a catalyst for change and is as much of God’s plan as ministry position.

God called Moses out of that 40 years of herding through a blazing bush. He gave Moses a commission and strong promises. God gave Mo the grauntee He was all powerful God and He would never leave him. Yet Moses takes a step back and shows his objections. The people wouldn’t accept him, he couldn’t speak well, no one would listen. The natural reaction to this part is to make fun of poor Mo. “Hello God just lit that bush on fire and its still going”…”God will help you, you ninny”… “Dummy He just turned your stick into a snake, don’t you think He will help people get it”? We look at him and pin point that his faith in God’s power is too small. Now that I am in a “season of sheep hearding” after a world rocking; I look at this differently… I get Moses’ fear. I get his reluctance… How can God use me after this terrible thing, Im damaged at best? Why would He want me after all this time, Im out of the game? What is He going to do with someone who is not going to be looked at as the ideal canidate? It makes sense to me that the fear got to him. But look at what God did through Moses, dispite his inability, his stubburness, his fear, his time out, his challenges… He can do the same thing with a clueless couple from Missouri too.

Im so glad God showed me this today… Because I was about to raise the white flag and turn on the distress signal. I wanted to say… “Seriously, enough already…If this is part of your big plan, I am clueless. I am so over it. I dont want to throw in the towel, but I feel like it would be easier.” Thank you Lord for showing me that You have a plan for the present sheep hearding, it’s not a wasted 40 years, Your view of me hasn’t changed. Thank you for using this time to shape us and mold us into Your perfect hybrid tool. Help my faith to grow, help me trust You, and not be defeated in this time I still stare at sheep.

Living differently means my “season of life” doesn’t control growing or following what God wants me to do. Time to unplug our faith from us and plug it in to a powerful, faithful God.

Read Exodus it’s totally worth it.

If you are currently sheep hearding let me know how I can earnestly pray for strength and renewed hope in God’s faithfulness. YOU ARE NOT ALONE AND ALMIGHTY GOD IS FAITHFUL.

“He spent 40 years thinking he was somebody, 40 years learning he was nobody then the next 40 years discovering what God can do with a nobody” 

DL Moody