How do you prepare for winter? Have you ever read Laura Ingalls or other similar books set in the olden days when you couldn’t just run to the supermarket? At that time people had to prepare for winter. Winter could not be ignored rather in many ways the year was spent preparing for winter.

In the spring the fields and gardens were planted so that there would be food for the summer but also extra for the winter. Summer was a time of tending the fields and beginning to harvest and put food away for winter. Autumn was the last of the harvest, the time to slaughter the hog for the smokehouse, and put food away to last through the winter.

How do you prepare for winter spiritually?

Winter spiritually could be a season when you can’t worship regularly with other believers. It might be a time when as much as you want to physically or mentally. You might not have the strength to be in God’s Word the way you would desire. It is a time of feeding on what you have stored up.

My Experience of a Spiritual Winter

As I faced surgery in March, I was told it would be major surgery but I didn’t realise just what that meant. My bag was packed for my hospital stay and included my Bible. In 2020 I had begun a Bible reading plan that was detailed and involved reading 10 chapters a day from different parts of the Bible. I envisioned that I would have time in the hospital to read just like I had been doing most mornings.

I also took my verse cards with me. These were verses that friends had shared with me over the previous weeks. I had copied them onto cards decorated with washi and written in markers that coordinated. These cards had gone to appointments with me. They were easy to just flip through, read a verse, and meditate on it.

I still didn’t realize I was entering a season of winter. The day after surgery I wanted to sleep but physio was in to get me standing, nurses were checking on me, staff were coming in to help me wash and really all I wanted to do was sit and sleep.

The mental strength to read was gone. I could flip through my cards and I did that some while I was in hospital. I didn’t even open my Bible.

I didn’t realise I was entering a spiritual winter. But that is where I was at that time, in a spiritual winter.

How Did I survive a Spiritual Winter?

There was a strong foundation from years of reading and studying the Bible. Bible verses and truth came to me at times that I needed it. Hymns reminded me of truths that I knew.

I had confidence in who God is. Even at this time, I knew that he would work in my life and draw me closer to himself.

I had friends who continued to share verses with me. My verse cards grew from a few to a stack of more than an inch of cards. I encouraged my friends to continue sharing verses and I continued to write those on cards. I needed my friends to help feed me God’s Word.

The habit of early morning quiet time had stopped. Slowly as my mental and physical strength returned I needed to return to being in the Word for strength. I began reading a Psalm a day. I admit that even that was too much some days.

Leaving a Spiritual Winter

Remember seasons change. Winter does not last forever. Don’t allow yourself to stay in a barren season. Look for how you can begin to renew yourself in God’s Word.

Slowly as my physical and mental health returned I began to spend more time in the Word. I began to dig deep into God’s Word again.

Don’t stay in winter.

I reaped the harvest of all that I had put into my spiritual life through the years. I saw how my spiritual goals have given the framework for preparing for winter.

2020 has not gone as I planned as I look back on my 2020 Spiritual Goals I realise I might not do all that I wanted but I have learned to rest and reap. I learnt to accept the giving of others.

You can survive a spiritual winter. Spring is coming. It is time to plant again.

Have you been in a spiritual winter? Have you stayed there when it is time to move to spring? I would love to hear about your experiences.

 

The other posts in this series include The Value of Christian Community and The Value of Prayer.