{"id":21387,"date":"2017-05-16T00:10:11","date_gmt":"2017-05-16T07:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lccredding.com\/lcc\/?p=10797"},"modified":"2017-05-16T00:10:11","modified_gmt":"2017-05-16T07:10:11","slug":"may-16-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2017\/05\/16\/may-16-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"May 16, 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cThere is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:\u201d<\/em> Ecclesiastes 3:1<\/span><\/p>\n

Seasons Change<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

The beginning of spring is an interesting time. Flowers are starting to bloom in many colors, and at the same time, there are still rain showers. I feel like I have entered the beginning of springtime in my own life, and it is a surprisingly delightful experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

For so long, I felt like I was in a never-ending winter. So many situations looked bleak. I didn\u2019t see any fruit, and the color of my landscape was mostly gray. The rain clouds were pouring out so much rain; I thought I would never stop crying. But I was not crying in vain. I was crying while praying; turning every situation over to God, again and again and again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThose who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them\u201d<\/em> (Psalm 126:5-6).<\/span><\/p>\n

I am learning that no season lasts forever. My seasons are starting to change. There is now healing and goodness blooming like fruits and flowers in my life where once the ground was hard. All of the tears like rain showers softened the ground to allow the seeds of prayer that I was sowing to finally push through.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now there are still some rain showers even while the birds chirp and the colors brighten my garden. There are still places that I am sowing in tears. But because I have experienced the joy at the end in other areas, I am confident that these new places where I painfully toil will also eventually bear fruit. God\u2019s Word can be trusted. If He said it, He will do it, for His Words do not return void.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs the rain and snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my Word that goes out from My mouth: It will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish My desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of thorn bush will grow the juniper, and instead of briars the myrtle will grow\u201d<\/em> (Isaiah 55:10-13a).<\/span><\/p>\n

In every season of our lives, we can have hope and rest assured that seasons will always change. Sometimes, at the point of change, you\u2019re just sowing, while reaping, while sowing, while reaping. God is faithful and consistent to keep His promises.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDear Lord Jesus, thank You for the consistency of changing seasons. Thank You that we can sow in tears knowing we will eventually reap a harvest of joy, for Your words can be trusted. Amen.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThere is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:\u201d Ecclesiastes 3:1 Seasons Change The […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-women"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p92wjD-5yX","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21387\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}