A New Season: Praying for the Harvest

Today is the first day of fall and I for one am thankful for a new season.

Don't get me wrong, summer was great. It was a sweet, refreshing season but even the sweetest of seasons leave us anticipating the next.

Earlier this year I found myself hating the fact that seasons come and go. Life seemed like a perpetual roller coaster of good seasons and then hard seasons- up and then down. And it seemed exhausting. But lately I've realized that I love the seasons. They are so consistent. A season may be hard but it doesn't last. Spring always comes.

The seasons always change.

Each season brings newness and awakening and we don't have to fear them or the change they bring. Because a woman who fears the Lord does not fear hard seasons. "When it snows she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet" (proverbs 31:21). A woman of God is clothed in the scarlet blood of Jesus Christ and she has joy and hope even in the coldest of winters. 

And so I chose to joyfully enter into this new fall season, leaving behind a gloriously full summer but not fearing the chill that is coming.

Because when the seasons change, God is doing a new thing and we can literally feel it in the air.   

So now it's officially fall and that means more than boots and crunchy leaves and fall flavored lattes (although I do love those things). Fall is a season for harvest. And this fall I am praying for a great harvest. I'm praying that the seeds that have been sown in our previous seasons of sweetness or seasons of trial would bear fruit. I'm praying that we will see revival.

Jesus said that the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few (Matthew 9:37). There's a plentiful harvest out there this fall, people! So let us be the workers, the hands and feet of Jesus, who go out into the fields reaping the harvest that he has in store.

Ultimately, I'm not sure about all that this season has in store. But I do know that this new season will not last forever. It is fleeting, winter is coming, and we must make the most of it now. And above all, in this season, God will be faithful and that is more than enough.

So especially now "let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." (Galatians 6:9).

Fall is here. The harvest is ready.

Our mission fields are waiting.

transparent community

I believe that being transparent is super powerful. And it's also super rare.

Whether you've noticed yourself doing it or not, we sweep so much of who we really are under the rug and put our best foot forward even with the people closest to us.

The truth is that we are all a mess. Everyone is struggling with something. We all have hurts and heartaches and wounds from being human. Yes, Jesus walks with us and holds us together but none of us are perfect. Not even close.

But most of the time we don't share with even our closest friends how they can really be praying for us. We don't share the real hurts or struggles. Instead when someone asks we parrot off something about being overwhelmed with our schedules or nervous about a test and while those are valid things, they are not the things that the enemy is using to wage war on our hearts.

When was the last time you allowed someone into the dark places of your heart? When was the last time you told someone you struggle with jealousy, doubting God, something someone said or did to you, an eating disorder, self-image, loneliness, depression, the list goes on and on.

It can be hard and embarrassing and scary to be vulnerable and reveal to someone the ugly mess that we sweep under the rug. But something happens when we lift up the rug and the light hits the dark places. In the light, the darkness looses it's powerful grip over us. The Son brings freedom. Chains are broken.

And it gives people the courage to stop sweeping their hurt under the rug too. We can go to the hard places with each other. And that is what true community really is.

See, we are made for community. literally. We are made in the image of God. And God himself is a community: God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Three in one. (Genesis 1)

And so community is so much more than we think it is. It isn't just a close group of friends who have a great time together.

Community is doing life together. Real life.

It's walking through the valleys together and hiking to the mountain tops together.

It's falling on our knees together and blessing the name of the Lord when He gives and when He takes away.

But in order to live in community we have to be transparent. 

So what do you need to be transparent about and who do you need to be transparent with?

Let's not allow dark places in our community. 

Let the light flood in and overwhelm us with sweet grace.