Everything Has Its Season
Life doesn’t ask for your permission before it changes. One day, you’re steady, confident, and sure of your footing. The next, you’re blindsided—by betrayal, by grief, by a crisis that makes you question everything. And just when you think, this could never happen to me, life reminds you that no one is above a shift in seasons. You can pray, plead, strategize, or even try to manipulate your way out of it, but somethings will not end until they have run their course. And that's the part no one likes to talk about, how seasons shape us, refine us, and, if we allow them, prepare us for what's next.
A Time for Everything
Solomon, the wisest man to ever live, puts it plainly in Ecclesiastes 3:1: "To everything, there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven." That means your struggles, your joys, your setbacks, and your breakthroughs are not random; they are stitched in the divine fabric of your life.
Yet, there are some who sit in comfort, looking down at those in distress—a worried mother crying out for help for her child, the single mother struggling to make ends meet, scorning the man whose life has turned topsy-turvy, laughing at the one drowning in debt, loneliness, or addiction. But time is the great equalizer, and the same cycle that humbled one today can just as easily turn in another direction tomorrow.
Winter: The Season of Breaking
Winter does not come softly—it crashes in. It looks like a young couple excited to start a family, only to hear that they cannot conceive. Concerning test results that sends you in a frenzy. It looks like a child grieving the loss of a parent. A once-thriving entrepreneur watching their finances collapse. Newly-weds feeling isolated realizing they will never win the approval of their in-laws.
Winter is where endurance is built. It is where you wonder if God is even listening, if your prayers are bouncing off the ceiling, if the pain will ever end. Winter strips away illusions. It forces you to confront what you truly believe, not just about life, but about yourself. It is in this season that you discover whether your faith is rooted or if it was only convenient.
And yet, as bitter as winter is, it serves a purpose. It kills what was never meant to last. It exposes what was weak all along. It reminds us that we are not as in control as we once believed.
Spring: The Season of Resurrection
But here’s the thing about winter—it does not last forever. One day, without warning, the ice begins to melt. What was barren starts to bud again. Spring is the season where the mother who thought she’d never conceive holds her miracle baby in her arms. It’s the season where the brokenhearted find love again, where the unemployed finally receive an offer, where the addict takes their first step toward sobriety.
But here's the truth about spring: you have to recognize it when it comes. If you are still mourning what winter took, you'll miss what spring is trying to birth. Understand that spring doesn’t come for those who give up in winter. It comes for those who endure. The ones who keep showing up, even when they feel unseen. The ones who choose healing over bitterness, surrender over self-pity.
Summer: The Season of Divine Favor
Then there is summer—the season where everything comes alive. Some call it luck. Others call it hard work paying off. But those who have walked with God know better.
Summer is the manifestation of divine favor. It is the man recovering following a major heart attack. It is the couple experiencing bountiful love and security, financial stability, a new house, car, dream job and private school for their children. Or even the widow who thought she’d never find joy again, now laughing freely.
But be careful—favor does not exempt you from responsibility. The mistake many make in summer is thinking it will last forever. That they can coast, mismanage their blessings, take people for granted. But just as seasons shift, so does favor. And those who do not steward it well often find themselves right back in winter.
Autumn: The Season of Release
Autumn is the most uncomfortable season because it requires letting go. Not everything from summer can come with you into the next phase of your life. Friendships will change. Habits that stunt your growth. Dreams you once held dear will no longer fit. Even some relationships—those you swore would last forever—will have to be released.
And yet, isn’t that the lesson of the trees? They do not fight to keep their leaves. They let them fall, trusting that new life will come again. But humans? We cling. We hold onto expired relationships, toxic environments, and comfort zones that are killing us, simply because we fear the unknown.
But God does not operate in stagnation. If He is asking you to let something go, it is because He is preparing something greater.
A Warning to the Arrogant
For those who mock the suffering of others—who believe they are too smart, too righteous, too careful for calamity to find them—be warned: Seasons change. The same tongue that once gossiped may one day cry out for mercy. The same lips that judged may one day beg for understanding.
Life does not give out immunity cards. No one is above hardship. The difference between the wise and the foolish is this—the wise understand that seasons are inevitable and prepare their hearts accordingly. The foolish? They live as if summer will never end, only to be left unprepared when winter arrives.
No One is Exempt. But Everyone Has Hope.
No season lasts forever. No pain is eternal, no joy is permanent, no chapter is indefinite. This truth is both a comfort and a call to wisdom. If you are in the valley, do not despair— it is temporary. If you are on a mountain top, do not grow careless— it is also temporary.
The wise learn to walk with the seasons, not against them. They do not fight winter, resent autumn, or cling to summer. They understand that God is present in every season— shaping, pruning, preparing, and fulfilling His purpose in due time.
Wherever you are in your journey, understand this: You are not alone in your season. Every person you admire, every testimony you celebrate, every success story you see—they all had their winter. They all walked through something that nearly broke them. But they didn’t stop there. They pressed through.
So whatever you are facing today—grief, betrayal, financial ruin, loneliness, sickness, feeling stuck in a lifeless marriage—hold on. You don’t have to rush the process or find a shortcut. Every season has its purpose, and if you endure, you will see why this one was necessary. Because when your next season comes, you will understand—nothing was wasted. Not even this.
XOXO,
Becoming Woman
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