https://www.facebook.com/chriradio/videos/2152332531448763/
To watch the Facebook live video with Brian, Dave and Reb check out this link: https://www.facebook.com/chriradio/videos/2152332531448763/
We have come to expect winter. The slush and snow and cold come every year and we smile, button up our jackets and start shoveling our driveways.
But what about the winter of the soul? Do we expect to feel cold and confused and distant from the God who loves us? Brian Doerksen, renowned Christian songwriter and Juno award winner gently suggests that we should. “Winter happens to everybody,” he says.
So what does winter have to do with finances? Sometimes we go through seasons of financial scarcity; seasons of confusion and asking a lot of questions about why and where God could be. Why does there seem to be a lack of provision?
Brian Doerksen sat down with David and Rebecca van Noppen to discuss his own winter seasons and to give some helpful insight for those of us walking through our own winter. Here are his thoughts.
Shame
Sometimes winter is deeper and darker because we blame ourselves for being there. “If only I had made wiser decisions. “If only I hadn’t trusted that person or that company.” Our culture is one of shame. The reality is most love in this world is conditional upon success and when we feel we can’t reach the mark, we shame ourselves into believing we are unworthy of being believed in.
What Next?
No matter what kind of shame you are burdening yourself with, we have to move through this pain to find freedom. The reality is this: Jesus got into the faces of those who were ashamed and told them they were worth believing in. He saw, and continues to see, our unlimited potential and He understands we cannot give out of our emptiness. We need to receive love first before we are able to offer it to those around us.
You are worth believing in.
You are worth loving.
And these gifts of love and belief have no conditions attached. God regards you as His precious child, with a purely unconditional love.
Our culture shames us. It points at every financial mistake but God never does. God does not shame you. So breathe, live, love because you are seen. It is time to move forward, don’t let your shame hold you back from this forward motion.
Don’t Paste Leaves on Winter Trees
Moving through the shame means being prepared to stop pasting spring leaves on winter trees. We can’t force ourselves into spring in life anymore than we can force spring to happen in December.
Sometimes financial scarcity is a season. Attempting to glue spring leaves on the barren tree of your life will do little to make the tree grow buds. Be honest about where you are.
Gratitude
Gratitude is a discipline which allows us to shift our perspective. We may not always feel like being thankful but making that intentional decision to be thankful is important as we live in winter, and journey out of that season into spring. For it is gratitude that can reveal the first signs of spring, the buds which mark the beginning of something new.
Ask yourself on a daily basis: what am I grateful for? Write it down. Plaster on the walls of your home this gratitude attitude into your life until it cannot be pulled out of your daily routine. Gratitude must be cultivated as a garden. Brian speaks about his father who lost his wife many years ago. Brian watched his father take each memory and turn it into gratitude. Despite the grief that gripped his heart, this man chose to thank God for the 50 years of marriage the two of them had shared. Was it easy? No. However, Brian’s father latched onto a truth and chose to believe that life is a journey of trust even in the midst of tragedy and loss.
Our strange up-and-down journey sometimes leads us through the valley of the shadow of death. Jesus never promised we wouldn’t experience suffering. What he did promise was His daily presence: we won’t ever be alone.
If you find yourself struggling, and in your own winter season, remember you are not alone. Your Father God, Creator, believes in you. So don’t isolate yourself in this winter season. Practice gratitude. Take refuge in those who have passed through these seasons before you: there is hope, you will make it to the other side.