Gabriella
Love throughout the seasons
Devotional
Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy. Acts 14:17
Through each season we weather diverse conditions that test our character and refine our essence. We strive daily to rid ourselves of impurities and gravitate instead in the direction of traits that make us better. Hence, through each season there exists a time to lose and a time to gain, a time to hate and a time to love, a time to weep and a time to laugh.
The seasons recur year after year. When each year ends, we know that a new one filled with different opportunities and challenges is about to begin. As each season flows into the next, so too do our lives pass through seasons. We are born with a newness mirroring spring. We pass away with somberness, like that of winter. Our summer and autumn are the epiphany and culmination of all our learning experiences, year after year. We experience seasons in our daily lives, too, through seasons of sorrow and joy, pain and pleasure. When we are open to growth, we become seasoned as the seasons progress.
Have you witnessed God’s love throughout the seasons? How are you experiencing God’s love in each of your chronological, circumstantial, and calendar seasons?
“Go-grow-journey intently through the seasons of your life.
Experience fully, live passionately.”
From “Celebrate Your Seasons: Inspirational Devotions to Progress in Love and Grace”
© 2011
God’s amazing love
Devotional
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
Psalms 23: 1-6
With certainty we know that each winter, buds remain buried underground awaiting their entrance above soil in spring; that the sun will rise every morning and set each evening; that if we visit a valley, we will surely find lush vegetation and abundant development, just as we would witness a lack of flourishing growth at the mountain top. We can also be assured that no matter how many reside on earth God knows each and every one of us uniquely. How absolutely comforting, as the Psalmist David recites in this meditation prayer.
Allow God to show you His amazing love. God restores us when we’ve had enough. He beckons us to take a break when the going gets tough. His omnipotence speaks to us as we face giants in our world. When we ask, He gives us what is appropriate. God’s goodness reveals to us that even in our darkest hour, He provides us with over and above what we ever imagined.
We are grateful that in God’s almighty act of love, he sent His son Jesus Christ for us to receive His never ending grace and mercy. Does love take on a more powerful meaning when woven into your life as the foundation of your faith? Are you accepting grace through God’s love and the love you consequently sow into each moment?
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:38-39
From “Celebrate Your Seasons: Inspirational Devotions to Progress in Love and Grace” © 2011