How to Trust God is With You Through Every Season

It seems wrong that Spring has somehow sneaked into my calendar. Seasons change without our consent—and that goes double for seasons of life.

Some seasons we never see  coming. That’s my story with heart disease. I had no family history and no risk factors. I was told three weeks before my diagnosis that I had less than 3% chance of ever developing heart disease in my lifetime. And yet, I’ve been in end stage heart failure for over ten years now. 

In February I was blessed to join my WomenHeart sisters in Washington, D.C. to share my story and lobby for legislation that would support treatment and improve the lives of women living with or at risk of heart disease. It was an honor to use my hard season in this way. I was even able to visit a couple of museums at the end of that long day on Capitol Hill, and revisit some paintings in the National Gallery of Art that have been a big part of my journey. It’s a collection by Thomas Cole called Voyage of Life.

AN IMPACTFUL ILLUSTRATION

I have used these illustrations in bible classes and speeches, and I wrote about them in an article, ”Finding God in Any Season,” for an international magazine, Just Between Us:

Decades ago, my husband and I attended a marriage seminar at our church. We were young, our kids were young, even our parents were still young. The speakers were a middle-aged married couple with some precious experience under their belts. We were sponges, wanting to absorb all the wisdom, hoping to keep the fairytale going in our lives. Life for us was humming along fine. We thought it was because we were so intentional and prepared.

But something those speakers said lodged in my subconscious. I first resisted it, then revisited it late at night for years: “It’s not if trouble comes in your family, but when.”

<To continue reading for free (and see the paintings)…CLICK HERE.>

Listen to this post read by the author HERE.