Choices: Walking Through Hard Times

@JeanneTakenaka +Jeanne Takenaka

Every time I read these words, they speak to my heart. I love the contrast of weeping and joy. 

Let’s face it. We all will walk through times of weeping. Of pain. Of hardship. We have a choice on how we walk through those difficult seasons of life.

When I read this psalm recently, something pinged that I had never seen before. We sow seeds, even in times of weeping. I usually view hard seasons as a time where I’m stuck. Not doing much beyond trying to get through a day without falling to pieces. 

I realized though, that it’s the how I get through my hard days—the places where my thoughts dwell—that sow seeds. Where my heart is focused is going to sow seeds that will be reaped later on. 

If my thoughts are focused on myself. On the why’s of the circumstances…

If I dwell on the hurt the situation is causing me . . . 

Then I will sow seeds of negativity and bitterness. 

If I water them with tears of self-pity or self-centeredness, then I am fertilizing those seeds in a way that will reap a painful harvest later on.

Each day, as those seeds burrow into the soil of my heart, they gradually shoot out roots that spread into my heart, my thoughts, my perceptions. 

In time, shoots of bitterness will begin to sprout. My words will be directed by my thoughts . . . which are directed by my heart. 

Bitterness, anger, self-focus will be the sheaves I reap in time. 

And this leaves no room for God to work.

Or, in the hard seasons, I can focus on the Lord. On His word. On the truths I know about who He is. 

This doesn’t make the weeping seasons go away. But, it does plant seeds of another kind in my heart. 

When I seek God rather than myself…

When I choose to believe God is who He says He is, even on the most difficult of days…

When I walk in the truths I have learned in the light, clinging to those rather than to uncertainty…

Seeds are planted that will reap a harvest in time.

Those seeds will settle into the soil of my heart and eventually take root. They will produce shoots of joy, of faithfulness, of a deeper walk with God. Of a kinder perception regarding the situations I face. 

This is the harvest I want to reap. These are the sheaves I want to carry with me when the storms of that season fade into history. 

So, yes, we all face difficult seasons. But that’s just what they are. A season. Some seasons of hard last longer than others . . . but they each have a beginning point and an ending time. 

We rarely choose our storms, but we can always choose how we walk through them. 

I want to walk through them in a way that allows me to harvest sheaves of beauty, that reflect Jesus to the world around me. 

What about you? How do you keep your focus on the Lord when you walk through hard seasons? What is a Bible verse that helps you stay grounded in the Lord?

Click to Tweet: We rarely choose our storms, but we can always choose how we walk through them.

I’m linking up with #RaRaLinkup, #TellHisStory, and Holley Gerth