I peeked through my office window and saw the tiny pink buds hesitantly starting to bloom. The bright color contrasted the brown landscape across my front yard. A smile crossed my face as I grabbed the camera to capture the hopeful yet minor signs of spring in early March. My heart rejoiced with the promise of cheerful colors and singing birds after a gloomy winter.

Spring is my favorite time of the year. I love the fall, with its magnificent, colorful forests and crisp cool air after the scorching summer months, but something about spring makes my heart sing for joy. After a long, dreadful winter, when nature dies and rests in complacent abandon, the first blooms remind me that there’s an end for every sorrow, just as there’s hope in every trial.

After a long, dreadful winter, when nature dies and rests in complacent abandon, the first blooms remind me that there’s an end for every sorrow, just as there’s hope in every trial.
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I find it necessary to create visual reminders of God’s grace in our lives, and nature is truly full of them. Meditating upon certain metaphors inspired by the seasons can become a way to anchor our hearts in truths often shadowed by our troubles.

Depression is sometimes referred to as the “winter of the soul,” and rightfully so. As we go through the terrible “winters” of sorrow brought about by the death of a loved one, unemployment, loneliness or lingering sickness, it is difficult to focus beyond our circumstances. Therefore, deep sadness, or even depression, can easily set in.

The end of winter, followed by the blooming of dogwood trees and flowers in early spring, has become an anchoring reminder to keep my focus in check each time I go through a shadowy valley. “No pain lasts forever,” the blooms remind me. Indeed, spring reminds me that just as nature is not dead during winter, God is also at work in the “winters of the soul,” preparing, caring for us, birthing new joys when we think that all hope is gone.

Spring reminds me that just as nature is not dead during winter, God is also at work in the “winters of the soul,” preparing, caring for us, birthing new joys when we think that all hope is gone.
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I can’t compare other people’s sufferings with mine, but I’ve certainly had my share of troubles. I’ve gone through many health problems, including cancer. We lost a loved one in a tragic accident. I experienced deep emptiness and loneliness following my separation from family and friends when I moved to America over two decades ago. We lost a lot of money in a business venture and faced unemployment twice in the years we’ve been married.

Life has certainly not always been a bed of roses without thorns. But as I look past each trouble I’ve faced, this fact stands out, more significant than anything I’ve ever endured: “Weeping may last for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” This truth, extracted from one of King David’s psalms, has been repeatedly tested and proven in my life. God has always provided me with the grace needed to pass each test — if only I would choose to look up to him instead of fixing my eyes on my difficult, however fleeting circumstances.

"Weeping may last for a night, but joy comes in the morning." Psalm 30:5
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As I watch the tree in my front yard blooming this early spring, I am again reminded of God’s faithfulness through the difficult seasons of my life. I am reminded that every winter of the soul has a purpose and that it also has an end.

It is through suffering that our character becomes stronger, and it is through watching God’s enduring presence in the most challenging days that our faith has the opportunity to grow.

Above all, the end of a long winter reminds me to trust that the sorrows of each long trial are but a shadow compared to the beauty and strength that God will bring forth in our character as we anchor our hearts in His promises and as we trust that spring will certainly come, even in our darkest and coldest days.

This article was originally published in Patricia’s column for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on March 25, 2022. Click HERE to find it on the AJC’s website.

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As I open the garage door, I gaze at the front yard, where our very own dogwood tree welcomes me home, its first blooms cheering my winter-struck flower bed.

Spring is my favorite time of the year. I love the fall, with its magnificent, colorful forests and crisp cool air after the scorching summer months, but there’s something about spring that makes my heart sing for joy.

After a long, dreadful winter, when nature dies and rests in complacent abandon, the first blooms remind me that there’s an end for every sorrow… and there’s hope in every trial.
Click To Tweet

I find it important to create visual reminders of God’s grace in our lives. Symbols often anchor our hearts in truths which are usually shadowed by our troubles. As we go through the dreadful winters of death of a loved one, unemployment, loneliness or sickness, it is so very hard to keep our focus beyond our circumstances. The blooming of dogwood trees in spring has become one of those symbols to me: a reminder to keep my focus in check, each time I’m going through a shadowy valley.

‘”No pain lasts forever,” the blooms sing to me. God is always at work, birthing new joys when we think all hope is gone.

The wise King Solomon put it this way: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance (…)” Ecclesiastes 3:4

I can’t compare other people’s sufferings with my own, but I’ve certainly had my share of troubles. I’ve gone through many health problems, including cancer. I’ve lost a loved one in a tragic accident. We’ve lost a lot of money in a business venture. We’ve experienced unemployment and the financial burden that it brings to a family. I’ve experienced the emptiness and loneliness that followed my separation from family and friends when I moved to America.

Life has certainly not always been a bed of thornless roses. But as I look past each trouble I’ve faced, this truth stands out, larger than anything I’ve ever endured:

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Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning - Psalm 30:5
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This truth, proclaimed by King David, who certainly knew hardship and pain, has been repeatedly tested and proven in my life:

God has always provided me with the grace needed to endure each testing – if only I would choose to look up to Him, instead of fixing my eyes on my fleeting circumstances.
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I look at the picture we took almost nine years ago in front of our dogwood tree and I can’t help but smile.

At the time we planted it, the tree was but a small, puny green shrub, dwarfed by the weight of our troubles. I was pregnant with our second daughter when we planted it. We had just lost an unthinkable amount of money in a business venture. We had no idea how we would make it with a toddler and a baby. The dogwood tree peeks from behind us in the picture, and today it’s as if I hear it say:

“Keep your focus on God, Holbrook family! This too shall pass. Just as you’ll watch me grow and bloom, one day you’ll realize it – God was pruning your character, strengthening and preparing you for a new chapter, in which the sorrows of the long and restless night are but a shadow compared to the beauty and strength that He’ll bring forth. If only you trust and obey Him.”

Twelve years have passed since that Spring, a time when my husband and I had to chose not to lean on our own understanding, but tell our hearts to believe and trust our faithful God. Our dogwood bush grew into a beautiful, tall and strong tree.

Much like our faith.

As I write these words today, I can look out my office window and see my blooming tree, standing as a faithful reminder that my God has repeatedly breathed new life through my veins after each dreary winter of my soul. His faithfulness is everlasting. His love is overpowering.

He is faithful, Winter-Weary Soul. He is faithful! Your Spring shall come! Tell your fickle, hurting heart… to believe!

The post A Promise for the Winter-Weary Soul… appeared first on Soaring With Him Ministries.