It’s been quite the winter. Storm after storm has punished the land, bringing complications, delays, and cancellations. It’s also been quite the winter for my soul, bringing affliction, confusion, persecution, and feeling struck down. Some days, these blows land heavier than others, and I know what it is to be struck down and believe it is impossible to get back up. Even prayer can feel powerless.
Yet, I’ve found a special kind of beauty that rises as I pray through the dark winter of my soul. It comes from trusting God, aligning with Him, and believing that spring will come. I don’t have to wait passively for spring. I can choose an active faith coupled with action steps. I can choose prayer even while the winter remains.
Choosing prayer is a step of wisdom. It follows the example of Christ. When everyone was looking for Him, when the crowds demanded more, and when His physical body was spent, Christ chose prayer.
Mark 1:35, “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.”
When I am spent, when everybody is looking for more of me, refreshment and strength come through prayer. In prayer, I ask for God’s help to appreciate His mighty works without demanding immediate results. I ask for a heart that accepts His ways are higher than mine. I lean on the Spirit so patience can chip away at impatience as I wait with hopeful expectation for God’s plans to unfold. I humbly submit this happens through prayer.
Spring comes through prayer.
I longingly look forward to the day when the Son will melt winter forever and usher in a spring that never ends. Until then, I look toward new morning mercies capable of growing joy beyond explanation, no matter how many tears have fallen before it arrives. I pray that I might see through God’s lens and understand how my storms can be called light and momentary afflictions when there is nothing light about the dark winter of the soul and nothing momentary about pain. But when I compare those heavy weights to the eternal weight of glory to come, I gain a glimpse through God’s eyes.
“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17).
*Come back for part two: Getting practical about praying through the dark winter of the soul.
