Devotions based on Mark Buchanan’s book, Spiritual rhythm

When we are in the winter season of our soul there is work in winter that only winter knows.  Like prayer. Prayer is the ongoing work of winter. But we may pray not because we know and see what God is up to, or because we feel God is good to us at that time. Instead we pray because we are anchored in God’s revelation of Himself in scripture that He is good. We may be going through some very difficult circumstances where we have to walk by faith and not by sight.

 But what better ground is there for growing in our faith? 

Another work of winter is pruning.  Initially pruning makes us unsightly and feeling useless. But it is a time to look closely at all of our tangled branches of our life- like projects, hobbies, obsessions, diversions etc that are not bearing fruit in our lives. It is time to let go of the useless activities and come into simplicity.  It may be a time to lose the weight of unneeded responsibilities so we can bear more fruit.

Another work of winter is waiting as winter forces us to wait. It may be a time when we feel God is indifferent or absent to us. He doesn’t seem to show up or leaves things unchanged….maybe even lets them get worse. But waiting builds faith and we find out that He has been with us all the time in the darkness, in our grief, in our bewilderment.  WE may not see Him until we arrive at the other end but all the while our roots have been going deeper .   Then our faith is based more on who God is, and not our circumstance of the moment.