Celebrating Discomfort.

Not on my 2023 Bingo Card: Leaving a job and church I loved, moving eight hours away from all my friends and family, starting a new role in a new place… and surviving my first winter snow.

The end of my 2023 was less than ideal, and it was one that brought a season of new learning… Learning a new role, learning a new town, learning how to cope with homesickness, learning how to live on my own, learning how to budget (still learning, aha)… The list goes on.

Sure, I love to learn and experience new things. This was also one of the best things to ever happen to me... but this new season I found myself in was one that brought much refinement.

Refinement is not an easy process. Big shocker, I know.

The core role of refinement? To remove the bad and improve what’s left-- in order for Christ to recieve the most glory possible.

In hard seasons I’ve often found myself saying, “Oh, it’s just a season of refinement—It’ll be worth it on the other side.”

Whereas I’m not technically wrong, I’ve missed a key factor…

We are always being refined. We just feel different seasons of it.

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The role of refinement in our lives is like that of farming seasons…

In the spring, farmers begin to prepare their crops. This requires tilling and prepping the soil. Sometimes it means breaking up many clumps of soil, prodding and pulling… and sometimes it also looks like making way for the ground to breathe.

In the summer, you plant and wait for the rains to come. When they come, there can be different growth—the intended plant or weeds. So, you must pull out or prune. It’s not a fun process, and we can often find ourselves pricked by the thorns of weeds—but it’s a necessary process in order to see tangible growth.

Then, of course, autumn brings a harvest. We see the results of our hard work—though the intake can sometimes be different from what we might have imagined. Maybe the tomatoes didn’t come in the way we hoped, but hey, we have an abundance of corn and green beans.

And finally, the ground rests in the winter. During this time, we intentionally shower the ground with nutrients necessary to replenish the soil.

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My friends, in the same way spring brings preparation for soil, often God is preparing the soil of our hearts and minds for something new and fruitful.

It takes prodding and tilling in order to make room for something to be planted, but it’s a necessary season in order to move with expectancy of God to work.

In the same way rain must come to grow crops, we must often endure uncomfortable seasons that (often unknowingly) prompt growth. Room has been made, and now God has come to water the soil to spring up something new in us.

But with the pain, there are often weeds, such as pain, negativity, false identity beliefs, and so on, that threaten to choke out the new growth God has in store.

We have to allow God to remove such weeds from our lives in order to walk in the growth He has in store. It’s not an easy process, but it’s worth the season that comes next.

And just like autumn brings the harvest, when we endure spring and summer, we celebrate the harvest of the fruit God has prompted to grow in us. Once again, it might not always be what we expected the result to look like—but it’s the expected result of a good Father.

And then, just like the ground rest and restores, God begins to replenish us.

What happens next? We do it all over again.

Just like the seasons come and go every year, so our seasons of refinement repeat all throughout or lives.

So, why is this important to be aware of?

Well, I’m reminded that a year and a half ago I went through each season, and now I see myself in another summer—pulling out the weeds brought in by rain.

Being aware of what God is doing in our lives helps us to submit to such a season.

If we fight the weed pulling of summer, then we will never see results.

So, as a woman who desires to be transformed by a Loving Creator, I want to allow God to pull out the weeds that threaten to kill off the fruits He has in store for me.

And, though not easy, what if we began to celebrate each hard opportunitiy that refinement brings?

So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

1 Peter 1:6-7

I want to be so full of fruit that people have to ask where it all came from. I want my life to point back to the best farmer I know.

So my question to you is this—Do you recognize the need for refinement? Do you want to see new growth?

What do you need to willingly endure to see such growth happen?

I encourage you to find where you are in order to be aware and allow God to do His work.

Don’t be discouraged in whatever season you may be in—as God has so much in store for His harvest… and we get to celebrate it with Him.

Songs for reflection, prayer, & singing:

New Wine - Hillsong Worship

Refiner - Maverick City Music

Seasons - Hillsong Worship

Trust in God - Elevation Worship

Make Room - The Church Will Sing