Spring is often put on a pedestal of a fresh start. Pastel colors. Spring chicks. Tulips and daffodils. Fresh spring cleaning. More Sun. Light and cheer.
It feels like everyone around is dressed in gingham midi dress and frolicking through the fields. (Me last year trying to grasp on this feeling amidst pre-partum depression)
Or at least that’s what depression and anxiety want you to believe.
“Everyone is moving forward except me.”
Instead of the extra sun, you see the reason for the saying April Showers, because it seems that the rain and storms in your life continually come.
So what do we do when the excitement of spring feels more like a roadblock? We find a new path.
For so long, I valued everything I listed about spring as my top priority for the season. The extended sunlight and warmer weather gave me just enough of a dopamine hit to feel like anything causing trouble would melt with the snow. Add in the fun of the egg hunts and pretty church dresses, and I was ready for the season.
But flash forward to an anxiety-overloaded version of me who faced spring in the same place she was for the past few years. Sad, anxious, and stuck. Why did those things that brought me joy now push me into a corner of comparison? My life wasn’t perfect and pastel. The blossoms weren’t about to bloom because I hadn’t even planted them. How could the rain make anything grow?
Reflecting on Jesus’ last week of life, I can only assume he felt the rain beat harder. He knew his walk as a human was about to end, the past 33 years of his life coming to a close. In Luke 22:42, right before he was arrested and taken to the cross, he prays to the Father to “take this cup from me.”
I’ve prayed that prayer before. My strength has never been enough.
Here’s the harsh, honest truth. I am not enough. All of the worldly things that have kept me stuck in the April showers, unable to see the blossoms of May, are unattainable. Why?
Because what Jesus said next, “YET, not my will, but yours be done.”
As Jesus sat to pray in the garden, knowing what would come next, betrayal, physical pain, and goodbyes, he shifted his perspective off the hurt and onto his purpose. To die for us so we may believe in Him and live eternally in Heaven. (John 3:16)
Now I, of course, don’t know what’s to come for any of us, but I do know one thing. The pain we hold onto and focus on does not help us move away from it, and it often traps us. We are not enough for the world’s twisted views of happiness, but the strength we find through Christ is more than enough to complete the life fulling purpose he has planned for you.
So friend, if the rain is not producing flowers, maybe it’s time for a perspective shift. Look at the flowers before they bloom, knowing the rain provides life. Jesus chose the pain of the cross to give you a whole life.
And before he completed his earthly purpose, he gave us these words. “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
The shift won’t happen overnight. And we will have days of trouble as Jesus shares, but sweet fearless friends, focus on the flowers.
Reflect. Take time this week to read in one of the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) the account of Jesus’ last days on earth. Journal how his perseverance towards God’s will encourages your walk to the same. How can you shift your mind to what God has in store and stop focusing on the problems around you?
With love,
A breakthrough is a sudden, dramatic, and important discovery or development. Or, in other words, a perspective shift. If today's message impacted you, I want to invite you to our next free event personally.
Christy and Troy will share their breakthrough moments as they encourage you to yours. Save your seat free at fearlessunite.com/upcoming-events
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