winter.

Look at the life of Jesus. Notice what he did. When Jesus touched the blind, they could see; all the beauty of the world opened before them. When he touched the deaf, they were able to hear; for the first time in their lives they heard laughter and music and their children’s voices. He touched the lame, and they jumped to their feet and began to dance. And he called the dead back to life and gave them to their families. Do you see? Wherever humanity was broken, Jesus restored it. He is giving us an illustration here, and there, and there again.

The coming of the kingdom of God restores the world he made. God has been whispering this secret to us through creation itself, every year, at springtime, ever since we left the Garden. Sure, winter has its certain set of joys. The wonder of snowfall at midnight, the rush of a sled down a hill, the magic of the holidays. But if winter ever came for good and never left, we would be desolate. Every tree leafless, every flower gone, the grasses on the hillsides dry and brittle. The world forever cold, silent, bleak. After months and months of winter, I long for the return of summer. Sunshine, warmth, color, and the long days of adventure together. The garden blossoms in all its beauty. The meadows soft and green. Vacation. Holiday. Isn’t this what we most deeply long for? To leave the winter of the world behind, what Shakespeare called “the winter of our discontent,” and find ourselves suddenly in the open meadows of summer? If we listen, we will discover something of tremendous joy and wonder.

The restoration of the world played out before us each spring and summer is precisely what God is promising us about our lives. Every miracle Jesus ever did was pointing to this Restoration, the day he makes all things new.

From Epic, by John Eldredge

Have you ever been through a storm in life and woke up one day realizing you've survived? After months and months of pain and turmoil, you can finally look back with a sigh of relief. Healing is a gradual process, it takes a long time and there's no quick fix. However, God seems to have a way of gently restoring us, in a way that once we do heal, we are able to look back at our battle, assess our wounds, and thank God that he was there to fight for us, and to carry us away from the battlefield for healing.

One of my current addictions is Grey's Anatomy. Last night I was watching an episode from Season 4 and I was struck but why Meredith (the main character) says in her narrative:

"Don't wonder why people go crazy. Wonder why they don't. In face of what we can lose in a day, in an instant, wonder what the hell it is that make us hold it together." -Meredith Grey

(Do you ever wonder why you haven't gone crazy in your life?)

Left to our own resources, we would not be able to hold it all together. We are human. From the time we are small children, we cry, we scream, we throw fits, we get scared, we fall apart, and we reach for someone who can keep us together. Someone who can make our world okay again.

If you are entering a "springtime" in your life, embrace it. Learn from the Winter. If you are in the middle of the blizzard, hold on, God will make sure you make it to see the snow melt.