snow season.

Life... it can get dark sometimes.
We are fallen, we are broken, and we embark on seasons of unexplained suffering.
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I don’t know what color your season is right now. The last few months for me have been less than glowing. We can’t comprehend the cause or reason for suffering in this world. Even Job.. a righteous man for God, struggled to understand his season of darkness. His prayers display his brokenness. As I’ve been reading through his story, his most vulnerable prayers.. I’m learning about the depths of the human heart, the strengths, the humility... the fear. I’m still on the journey, praying through Job’s story.. His vigilance in faith gives me hope for the end of his story. The end of his season.
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We are broken. There is such suffering in this world. Let us remember, however that Jesus did not create suffering. He came before us in this stained world, and suffered the ultimate sacrifice. He didn’t want to suffer. In prayer, in the garden.. He asked His Father to avoid this season. He felt the pains of Job.
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Take heart, friends.. We may not have an answer to suffering, but we have a hope of new life.. we have the hope of baptism.
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On Sunday I woke with new energy.. praise be to God. Energy that’s been so absent in my dimmed season. On Sunday, the baptism of Jesus, snow covered places of Texas.. where it rarely does. On Jesus’ baptism, He took our sins to the Jordan. He baptized us in the fire of the Holy Spirit, and He took our sins to the cross. “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.” Eph 5:8
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This is where we shine. We shine “as children of light”. You have been given the fire of the Holy Spirit through your baptism. Be renewed in new hope. Be transformed in the seasons of your beautiful gift - life.
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In the darkness, draw near. In the darkness, remain vigilant. Awake, arise in the light of hope.. because the seasons change. He wants to know your heart in the darkness, in the dim, and in the light. This season, too, shall pass.
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Jesus, help us to understand your will. Lead our hearts into the light. Grant that we may continually sing thanksgiving always and in everything.Instill in our hearts vigilant faith, like Job, in every season. Saint Cecilia fill our hearts with your joyful song.. singing constantly His praise.
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I pray you find your light each morning. May you seek new hope in each season and look to Him in all things.. even amid confusion and darkness.

xx courtney