It’s hard to understand sometimes,
Is there a master plan?
How do I make sense of everything I’m going through?
Maybe it’s not ours to know so we have to learn to let things go.
And simply try to make the most of every day.
And have faith that somehow we will find our way.
So count it all joy,
All that you’re going through.
No matter what you’re going through
Even when you’re feeling down
Count it all joy,
Each moment's a gift to you
No matter what you're going through
So turn it all around."
To listen click here: Count it all joy - Bebe & CeCe Winans
I grew up listening to that song and it means more to me now than it did when my parents would play it throughout the house as a kid. My dad would always tell me growing up to “Count it all joy”, now as an adult I can better understand the magnitude of what that means.
In James 1:2-4 it says “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
The hardest thing to do in a difficult season is to praise God and count it all joy. Oftentimes in challenging seasons we want to blame God instead for allowing the circumstances in our lives to occur in the first place. Tough seasons can be very uncomfortable and hard to navigate through. Sometimes they happen gradually, sometimes they happen suddenly but no matter the time they can be very tough. What if I told you that you can find rest and peace in knowing that God is with you in every season and can use them for your good and His glory.
God is with us in every season of our life. Although we tend to see Him more clearly and praise Him in the good seasons when life seems to be going well, He promises to be with us at all times even in the tough seasons of life. He uses different seasons in our lives to shape us, mature us, draw us closer to Him, build our faith and to make us more like Him. No matter what kind of season you’re going through, remember that God always promises to make things beautiful in His time. Pruning seasons, waiting seasons, trialing seasons and dry seasons are all purposeful.
The hardest thing to do in a difficult season is to praise God and count it all joy. Oftentimes in challenging seasons we want to blame God instead for allowing the circumstances in our lives to occur in the first place. Tough seasons can be very uncomfortable and hard to navigate through. Sometimes they happen gradually, sometimes they happen suddenly but no matter the time they can be very tough. What if I told you that you can find rest and peace in knowing that God is with you in every season and can use them for your good and His glory.
God is with us in every season of our life. Although we tend to see Him more clearly and praise Him in the good seasons when life seems to be going well, He promises to be with us at all times even in the tough seasons of life. He uses different seasons in our lives to shape us, mature us, draw us closer to Him, build our faith and to make us more like Him. No matter what kind of season you’re going through, remember that God always promises to make things beautiful in His time. Pruning seasons, waiting seasons, trialing seasons and dry seasons are all purposeful.
Pruning Seasons
Pruning is the cutting away of any growth that is not desirable in order to produce more abundance. To be pruned is to be stricken from a comfort zone, removed from a place of safety or put in a situation where every measure of normalcy is gone. Pruning puts us in a vulnerable space where we can choose to depend on God and trust His plans or fall into the enemies trap to discourage us even more with lies to tempt us to give up and throw in the towel. I pray that instead you will trust God’s word when it says that the testing of your faith produces perseverance and that you persevere through pruning seasons.
Waiting Seasons
Waiting seasons produce patience (1 Timothy 1:2-4) and dependence on God. God uses waiting seasons to remind us that we are not in control. Days, months, or even years of uncertainty and not knowing what’s going to happen next puts us in a position to depend and trust in the One who does. Are you waiting for God to answer a prayer you’ve been praying for for so long? Please know that your waiting is not in vain and that even when God calls us to wait for very long times that He is still moving.
Trialing Seasons
Trialing seasons purify our hearts and show us our continuous need for God. Trialing seasons are those seasons when the weight of the world seems to be on our shoulders and nothing seems to be going right. Your job may have laid you off and the bills continue to overflow. Your marriage could be in shambles and your children are wayward. Your car could be giving you more issues than you can afford to financially handle. You could be or know someone who is facing some serious health issues and you need a solution. Trialing seasons leave us with no idea what to do next because things continue to happen, as my mom would say “If it ain’t one thing, it’s another”.
Dry Seasons
Dry seasons allow time alone with God without distraction. In dry seasons nothing particularly bad is happening but nothing that you deem as good is happening either. Perhaps some prayers of yours seem to be going unanswered or God feels silent and distant. Your life may seem mediocre or boring and you’re wondering if it will always be this way. Dry seasons out of all of the seasons probably is the best one to find yourself in because of the steadiness it brings and it’s easier to be content in them. However, they can also bring about complacency, apathy towards the things of God and stagnation in our faith walk. Believe it or not we grow more in the other 3 seasons than we do in dry seasons.
I have found myself in all of these seasons at some point in my life. I have learned that through them all the key is to cling to God, trust Him and keep Him first. If you find yourself in any of these seasons, my prayer for you is that you find hope in the Lord today. That He will give you a glimpse of what He is doing in this season and sustain you through it. I want to encourage you to know that God is in control and fully aware of the season you’re in and working out every situation for your good and His glory. He not only is a God that saves us from our sin, but a God who is still saving us now! He is faithful to walk with us through tough and mundane seasons. In these seasons, we may not always be able to see what God is up to until we’re out of them but trust that He is always up to something. He’s a sovereign God, a faithful Father, and a good friend.
Praying for you! God is with you, Praise Him no matter what you’re going through. Your story is still being written. Count it all joy!
Pruning is the cutting away of any growth that is not desirable in order to produce more abundance. To be pruned is to be stricken from a comfort zone, removed from a place of safety or put in a situation where every measure of normalcy is gone. Pruning puts us in a vulnerable space where we can choose to depend on God and trust His plans or fall into the enemies trap to discourage us even more with lies to tempt us to give up and throw in the towel. I pray that instead you will trust God’s word when it says that the testing of your faith produces perseverance and that you persevere through pruning seasons.
Waiting Seasons
Waiting seasons produce patience (1 Timothy 1:2-4) and dependence on God. God uses waiting seasons to remind us that we are not in control. Days, months, or even years of uncertainty and not knowing what’s going to happen next puts us in a position to depend and trust in the One who does. Are you waiting for God to answer a prayer you’ve been praying for for so long? Please know that your waiting is not in vain and that even when God calls us to wait for very long times that He is still moving.
Trialing Seasons
Trialing seasons purify our hearts and show us our continuous need for God. Trialing seasons are those seasons when the weight of the world seems to be on our shoulders and nothing seems to be going right. Your job may have laid you off and the bills continue to overflow. Your marriage could be in shambles and your children are wayward. Your car could be giving you more issues than you can afford to financially handle. You could be or know someone who is facing some serious health issues and you need a solution. Trialing seasons leave us with no idea what to do next because things continue to happen, as my mom would say “If it ain’t one thing, it’s another”.
Dry Seasons
Dry seasons allow time alone with God without distraction. In dry seasons nothing particularly bad is happening but nothing that you deem as good is happening either. Perhaps some prayers of yours seem to be going unanswered or God feels silent and distant. Your life may seem mediocre or boring and you’re wondering if it will always be this way. Dry seasons out of all of the seasons probably is the best one to find yourself in because of the steadiness it brings and it’s easier to be content in them. However, they can also bring about complacency, apathy towards the things of God and stagnation in our faith walk. Believe it or not we grow more in the other 3 seasons than we do in dry seasons.
I have found myself in all of these seasons at some point in my life. I have learned that through them all the key is to cling to God, trust Him and keep Him first. If you find yourself in any of these seasons, my prayer for you is that you find hope in the Lord today. That He will give you a glimpse of what He is doing in this season and sustain you through it. I want to encourage you to know that God is in control and fully aware of the season you’re in and working out every situation for your good and His glory. He not only is a God that saves us from our sin, but a God who is still saving us now! He is faithful to walk with us through tough and mundane seasons. In these seasons, we may not always be able to see what God is up to until we’re out of them but trust that He is always up to something. He’s a sovereign God, a faithful Father, and a good friend.
Praying for you! God is with you, Praise Him no matter what you’re going through. Your story is still being written. Count it all joy!
<3 Marissa
Scripture reference:
(I recommend writing these down and hanging them around your home. The bible says we should meditate on scripture day and night (Joshua 1:8), this is a great way to combat discouragement).
Scripture reference:
(I recommend writing these down and hanging them around your home. The bible says we should meditate on scripture day and night (Joshua 1:8), this is a great way to combat discouragement).
- He has made everything beautiful in its time. (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
- And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)
- Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James 1:2-4)
- Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. (Hebrews 5:8)
- Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. (John 15:4-16)
- In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:6-9)
- And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:8)
- Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Philippians 4:8)