How God Works In Spiritual Winters

I’ve always thought there was something magical about spring. It’s the season where snow melts, flowers blossom, and the world casts away its winter blanket to greet the warmer days. I live in a place where spring looks like the dry season and not the picture-perfect version I mentioned above. So this visual of fresh life and shedding of the cold has always had a unique appeal to me. I believe it holds this special appeal because of its sense of hope, resurrection, and overall newness.

But here’s the thing. For spring to arrive, winter must first run its course. How many times does it occur like this in our own lives? Like nature, our lives have seasons. Some are more exciting and fruitful than others. Others are places of slowness and silent diligence in preparation for spring. But underneath it all, God is growing us and turning us into something beautiful.

You may feel like you’re in a winter season, but God isn’t done yet. The harshest winters in our lives can lead to the brightest springs.

What Are Winter Seasons Like Spiritually?

Winter seasons are a time where life is dormant underneath the ground. It is a time where certain plants seem to disappear, only to rise up again in spring (like tulips). It is also a time where certain plants die, having a designated life cycle (like petunias). Curiously, winter is also the time where certain things will bloom that won’t usually bloom in any other season (think about snowdrops).

Winter seasons in our spiritual life can be like this. Certain things will slow down and apparently disappear, only to spring back up later. Other things, much like petunias, will come to an end. And this is a good thing! Still other things will bloom in winter, when they wouldn’t in any other season. Like Ecclesiastes says, there is a time for everything.

“To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven.” – Ecclesiastes 3:1, NKJV

I believe there are three main things God does in winter seasons.

God Calls Us To Cultivate the Dormant Things

When you find yourself in a spiritual winter season, ask yourself, what are things that are lying dormant in my life? These could be things that are very much alive, and still need faithful cultivating. Many times, when our spiritual world slows down, we can get discouraged because we don’t see immediate fruit or we don’t feel the same passion for Jesus we used to feel. This doesn’t mean that your life is no longer fruitful, nor does it mean that you should stop seeking God. It just means that there are dormant things that need cultivating so that, come spring, they will bloom again.

Think about your devotional life. Maybe you’re in a life season where reading the Bible is no longer so exciting, praying feels like a chore, and going to church weights on you more than it motivates you. Does this mean you should give up? Does it mean your spiritual life is dead? No! Remember the tulips. They are still alive underneath the soil; they simply need some time. But the last thing they need is to be plucked up, turned to dust, and cast away.

If your spiritual life has felt slow, cold, and unexciting, don’t give up! Keep reading the Bible. Keep praying. Keep going to church. Eventually, obedience will lead you where your feelings can’t. Obedience leads to new life and passion.

God Causes Certain Things To Die

I believe that spiritual winters reveal the strengths and weaknesses in our lives. They reveal the things that are strong and enduring, like tulip bulbs underground, and others that are shallow and only there for show, like petunias.

What things in your life need to die? Sometimes, God leads us into spiritual winters not to punish us, but to clean house and only let the best of us make it through so we see spring with fresh eyes. Perhaps you’ve been cultivating roots of bitterness, anger or resentment that need to freeze up and die. Perhaps you’ve been cultivating an outward spiritual life that isn’t deep or real, but is just for show. If there are things that have grown in your life that aren’t grounded in Christ, winter seasons are the perfect time to take stock of what is real and deep and what isn’t.

If you find yourself in a winter season ask yourself, what things need to die? Once you identify something, give it to God and let it go. You can’t make petunias live forever, just like you can’t make a fake Christian life last. You need to be grounded and rooted in Christ. If you’re in a winter season, now is the perfect time to uproot and clean the garden of your heart.

God Causes New Things To Bloom

Beauty can be found even in winter. There are things that bloom in winter that wouldn’t usually spring up anywhere else. Think about snowdrops. These little flowers usually bloom in late winter, bursting through the snow and joining the white canvass of nature.

What things in your life are blooming, even in winer? Sometimes, we can focus so much on all that’s disappeared or died in our spiritual lives that we don’t take a moment to look at the new life that is springing up in the most unexpected of places. In the slow spiritual seasons, God is still growing things in us, and He is still showing up with beauty. It may not be loud and bold like spring, but it is hopeful and resilient nonetheless.

What is God growing in you? Maybe there’s fresh grace, new patience, or careful endurance that is booming in your heart. Maybe He is growing a bigger heart in you, or teaching you to value the stillness and the quiet. Even in winter, God is speaking and bringing things to life in the garden of your heart. Yes, winter seasons may look like a chaotic and lonely wilderness, much like the world did in Genesis 1. But even there, God can still speak and say, “Let there be light.”

God hasn’t forgotten you. He works in winter when things lie dormant, die, or bloom. Even there, He can be found.

Winter Doesn’t Last Forever

“For lo, the winter is past, The rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; The time of singing has come, And the voice of the turtledove Is heard in our land.” – Song of Songs 2:11-12, NKJV

If you feel like you’ve been in a spiritual winter and it’s lasted forever, don’t be discouraged! Every winter has an ending, and it leads to a blossoming spring. But remember this, spring without winter wouldn’t be as beautiful. Winter is the reason why resurrection is so meaningful. Winter is the reason why new life is so vibrant.

Spring will come, but don’t waste your winter. Jesus can be found in every season, and there is beauty to the work He does during the seemingly spiritual dead seasons of our lives. Lean into Him, and let Him tend to the soil of your heart. Through every season, there is a purpose. Lean into winter, because it leads to new life, hope and resurrection.

Thanks for reading!
Anna

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Photo by Andres Siimon on Unsplash