In ministry and in service, you will inevitably go through various seasons ...

There is the excitement of spring when you get new understandings from the Word and fresh insights into the Lord. Things blossom and bud; new growth abounds.

Spring leads to the fruitfulness of summer, when you start to see ministry opportunities open. The Lord uses your life and you say, ‘Wow! Fruit!’

Then comes fall when the Lord says, ‘There are some dead leaves that need to be knocked off.’ The winds blow, trials come, and you wonder what’s going on.

Fall is followed by winter — long periods where you feel nothing and hear very little.

Early in my walk, not understanding the necessity of seasons, I used to freak out when winter came. ‘Oh, my,’ I thought, ‘I must be backsliding. I must be doing something terrible because I don’t feel the Lord’s presence.’ In reality, however, it was in the wintertime that the Lord was giving me the opportunity to walk by faith and not by feeling.

What are we to do during the winter times in our lives? Worship. Praise. Sing. Why? Because in the wintertime, we have unique opportunities to worship the Lord without immediately receiving more than we give.

As I sat in the Sanctuary in early morning worship, I saw a brother in the winter season of his life come towards the Communion table, and go to his knees in prayer while lifting his hands in praise. A few hours earlier this man’s wife had been taken home to Heaven, yet he didn’t call for counseling; he didn’t ask for pity; he came to worship.

How I pray we will walk in this kind of maturity..