--A SPIRITUAL WINTER ~~
--[Keeping the Faith]

--By: Ty'Ann Brown, Vice President, Ministries

---I'm not a fan of winter. There are things I appreciate: the holidays, a blanket of snow coving the ground. Still, I get sad when the days get shorter and the darkness of the season sets in.

We will experience more than one spiritual winder, when we feel we are stumbling around in the dark, alone, disconnected from God. Maybe you've lost a job, a loved one. Maybe a blizzard of bad feelings has enveloped you.

This is a painful spot to be in. . But remember the childhood games of Hot and Cold in which someone hides an item and you have to find it?
When you got close, the other person would say "hot." If you were somewhere in the vicinity, you were "lukewarm. " And when you were nowhere near? "Cold." I felt bewildered whenever I was "cold." Then I'd realize that if I kept searching and listening for Him. Your faith will flourish again.

These bleak seasons are not only inevitable but necessary For my faith to grow stronger, I too need these periods of reflection.

I read a lot in the winter. This verse from thee Gospel of John always jumps out at me: "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it."
Shine on this winter ~
--Guideposts/ TAB~