S2 EP7. The Spiritual Seasons: Understanding God’s Timing In Your Life

Life with God isn’t linear – it’s seasonal. In this episode, we break down the 4 spiritual seasons of the Christian walk, how to discern where you are, and the way God uses each season to shape, refine, and build you up.

Inside Episode 7:
✔️ The 4 spiritual seasons
✔️ What God is building, pruning, and shifting
✔️ The importance of God’s order and timing
✔️ Letting go of resistance in hard seasons
✔️ What each season reveals about God’s character

If you’ve been feeling stuck, confused, or like nothing is happening — this episode will give you fresh perspective and wisdom on what God is doing.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

What is God trying to teach me about his nature or about his way of doing things when I look out and I see the seasons that we go through on a yearly basis? The hand of the Lord on your life doesn't always feel peaceful.

SPEAKER_01 0:11

It feels like pressure sometimes. Especially as women, we know this. When we are in the warfare season of our alluvial face. The whole purpose of us being more like Jesus is learning to be loving even when we're not feeling like it.

SPEAKER_03 0:24

There's so much agricultural imagery in scripture that's showing us that there is a time and a season for every single thing. The seasons that we're experiencing externally start to impact us internally as well.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

The way I think of winter is like God saying, be still and know that I'm God. I think I misinterpreted the winter as like I needed to go, I needed to do things, I needed to get out of it rather than an actual nourishment.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

How has that changed the way that you understand who God is or the way that he works?

SPEAKER_03 0:47

God is number one, a God of order, and he's a god of timing. If I want to be in a summer when he's got me in a winter, then I'm not walking in his will for me.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

We can't be expected to bloom all year round.

SPEAKER_03 0:57

It's not how God designed us. There's something he's doing and working in you in that particular season that's actually going to set you up and support you for the next thing that comes. And we are almost done wrapping season two. And if this podcast has touched you, impacted you in some way, and you want to see it continue to grow, please subscribe. It's one of the best ways that you can support us, and it's one of the best ways that we can continue to show up and support you. So without further ado, let's get into this episode.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

All right, guys. So today we're talking about seasons, but not necessarily literal seasons, but spiritual seasons. Yeah. And I know this has been a big theme in all of our lives recently, because right now, for everyone watching, we're literally filming this in the dead of winter in Toronto, Canada. So we're in a place where like the seasonality of life deeply affects us. It affects our day-to-day, it affects how we feel, it affects how we look, it affects what we're able to go out and do. And it's had me reflecting a lot on spiritual seasons because I just don't think there's a there's a coincidence in the fact that throughout scripture we see so many agricultural references, like analogies on pruning and growing and seeding and harvesting. And it's like it and and of course we know that God created the heavens and the earth and he created the seasons. So I always look outside and I ask myself, like, what is God trying to teach me about his nature or about his way of doing things when I look out and I see the seasons that we go through on a yearly basis? So what do you guys think? Like, has being in the literal dead of winter been having you reflect more on the seasonality of your spiritual spiritual walk?

SPEAKER_03 3:14

Yeah, I think I mean, not just this time around. I feel like this has been something that I've reflected on for years now, just because I've started to understand the just the seasonality of life through the way that I experience change through my own cycle as a woman. So that for me was like sort of my first, I guess, interaction with understanding how God creates seasons and cycles of change. Um and like you said, there's so much agricultural imagery in scripture that's showing us that there is a time and a season for every single thing. And so naturally, you know, the seasons that we're experiencing externally start to impact us internally as well. Um and I think it's really important to know, to just constantly be asking yourself the question, like, what season does God have you in? Because when you don't know that and you're not aware of maybe the purpose of that season, then it can create a lot of frustration and resistance. Like it can create a lot of just confusion, it can create a lot of comparison because sometimes you might be in a winter season, but somebody else or the world may even be in a summer, and you're looking to others and you're like, why am I not experiencing the same movement, the same action, the same bloom that they are? And it's because God is doing something very particular within you in this season. So I think that this is actually incredibly important. Um, where it's not even something that is like nice to think about. It's like actually important for us to know so that we can truly walk out our calling just with more integrity.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

How about you, Sav? I mean, I think I've always felt the seasons being something that like we're always moving through. Um I think now I'm more aware of my resistance on the seasons. Like I think before I was like, well, yeah, okay, it's winter season, cool. Like um, but yeah, I think I'd also, you know, I actually I think I'd see the winter season as like, oh, it's winter, I gotta prepare for all these things so that when the summer comes I'm ready. Um where now I actually feel like I'm more of in a resting state and an observant state than like a go, go, go. Because I think I misinterpreted the winter as like I needed to go, I needed to do things, I needed to get out of it rather than just embracing it because it's seen as like maybe maybe it's not seen as a negative to everybody, but I think I saw it as a negative rather than like an actual nourishment. Because there is purpose in the good and the bad in everything that God is doing. I was actually reading about it in Ecclesiastes today. It says in Ecclesiastes 7, this is a really good book, by the way. Seven, I hope I'm saying it right. 7, 13 to 14, he says, consider what God has done. Who can straighten what he has made crooked? When times are good, be happy. But when times are bad, consider this. God has made the one as well as the other, therefore no one can discover anything about their future. And this is really telling us that, like, it's really showing our reliance on God that we do not control things. We are not sovereign in our life. We are we have free will, but we are not sovereign over the seasons, over different things. That is something that God is moving us through and teaching us how to rely on him. And I think that really showed me this reflection of like the winter season where I'd feel like I didn't want to sit in the rest of it. I wanted to like get out of it. Like I try to escape to a new country and go back to the sun and just get back in my my summer season. Right. Um but I think I right now am becoming more of an observer and like this this season has been it started off as like kind of rough, and now I'm like, you know what, how can I embrace it?

SPEAKER_00 7:29

Right.

SPEAKER_01 7:29

How can I actually see what God is has in front of me right now and take in the lessons that He's yeah He's trying to shape in me.

SPEAKER_02 7:39

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 7:40

Sounds like you're approaching the seasonality of your spiritual walk with a lot more openness versus trying to run away and resist the seasons that you don't like. This is like very new though.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

No, like I've been trying to run.

SPEAKER_03 7:53

Yeah, most like a few weeks new. Most people do. Well, it's also interesting too because I'm hearing you talk and you're only referencing two seasons, and most people typically think about life through two seasons. You're either in the dead of winter, nothing is happening, you're being pruned, you're being crushed, or you're in full bloom summer where it's just high activity and life is good and the sun is beaming down on you all the time, and you're just like, I can live like this forever. And most people want to live in the bad doesn't feel that bad. Most people want to live in the summer. So it's just it's interesting to see that like we kind of lose sight of the purpose in every season that God has in store for us. Um, and we tend to glorify one more than the other, especially in our culture, because I know we do live in a culture that is perpetually in a summer state all the time. Like there's an expectation of you to be on 24-7. Um, whether that's through productivity, through energy, through social interactions, whatever it is. Like it's interesting to me too to even think about how like the peak social experiences or holidays that we tend to have, like Christmas, the holiday season is in the dead of winter, and there's just like this high activity. There's just like this burst of um energy and um social interactions at a time where like you're really moving very slowly, like everything is trying to slow down. And so it's interesting to see how like culturally speaking, we don't have to be like how New Year New Year's like the New Year's starts in the dead of winter. Yeah, it's like culturally speaking, we really don't have this sort of reverence for seasonality and and the purpose that it plays in our lives. Yeah. So yeah, that's really interesting. And I think kind of where I would like to just, you know, carry this conversation forward is like sharing a little bit more. Like we're kind of implying that all three of us are in a winter season. But like I would love to just talk about like, yeah, what season you're currently in right now. And I would love to even ask our audience to reflect. We're gonna go through, for the most part, give you some context on what the four seasons really are and what that looks like spiritually, what you may be experiencing, what God is doing in you during that time, what the purpose of that season is. Um, but we really want to encourage you to reflect on what season God currently has you in, because there's gonna be a lot of insight that just comes through for you in that process and and maybe even a deeper level of acceptance um to what God is actually doing and working in you. Okay, so we're gonna start with a little bit of an overview of what the four seasons are. And again, the whole purpose of bringing this forward is just for you to understand where you may currently be. Because when we don't have that awareness, it can lead to a lot of frustration when you're operating out of alignment with the season that God currently has you in. Um, and so we kind of have a little bit of a breakdown that we received from a friend of ours, and it was taken from a book called The Deborah Anointing, where it just talks about the four spiritual seasons that you may go through. The first being winter, there's the spring, there's the summer, and then there's the fall, right? We see these seasons reflected to us externally. And the winter season is a time of pruning and also just, I would say clearing. It's a time of being hidden. Internally or externally, there may not seem like there's a lot going on, but internally there's a lot that's being reworked. So the purpose of the winter season is to clear anything that is not actually going to carry forward with you into the spring. It's to cut off dead branches, it's to cut off things that are not fruitful. The Lord is purifying you, he's removing things from your life. Maybe he has you laying things down, or he's actually just closing doors that he no longer wants you walking through. And it's really calling you into a time of deeper intimacy with him. So you might find that when you're walking through the winter season, it's a lot of one-to-one time with the Lord. Um, I've been noticing this for myself in general. And this can look like a lot more silence, a lot more quiet, a lot more just slow, steady obedience behind the scenes that nobody really sees. Now, the danger of the winter season, this is something to just look out for, is resisting that rest that the Lord is calling you into, resisting that slowness, that intimacy that he's using in this particular season and trying to move into a spring or a summer before you're ready for it. And I know that oftentimes when people are stepping into a winter, because there's not a lot going on, we can also falsely label this as failure.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

So next comes the spring, and this is about the preparation for new life that is gonna inevitably come in the summertime. And the purpose of the spring is discernment, it's stirring, it's when you start to see that new life starting to sprout, but it hasn't fully bloomed yet. And this is when what was planted in the winter begins to surface. So you might start to see some doors opening, right? You might start to get some vision or some clarity, where in the winter it felt like I have no idea where I am, where I'm going, or when this season is going to end. It feels like you're really in the eye of the storm. There's like a blizzard happening around you and you don't know where you're going. Versus in spring, it's like, oh, the skies have cleared. Like maybe I can actually start to see where I'm going now. Vision is returning, hope is riding, and God hope is riding, hope is rising, and God is awakening new callings in your heart. And so you might have an increased sensitivity to God's voice, which likely was built during the winter season. Because the way I think of winter is like God saying, be still and know that I am God. Yeah. It's like, be still, don't do much. Listen. Stop trying to get somewhere and just be with me. Listen. But now you have that increased sensitivity, which is really going to help you in the spring. You have new ideas and assignments, and there's this gentle moving forward. But the key here is not to go too fast before it's time. Because the Lord will tell you when there's a green light to go, when it's really your moment. There's like a window of opportunity, and that's often what a spiritual summer looks like. So you don't want to rush into movement too fast so that you're not actually going to be able to sustain it or reap the harvest. This is a time of preparation. It's not necessarily a time for um like going, go, go, go. I guess that's what I'm trying to say. Like, I don't know the exact word for that. Yeah, it's not high activity yet.

SPEAKER_03 14:16

Like you're not going on full speed. Um because I also think what he's doing is like almost preparing and positioning those parts of you that he knows, like those ideas, those relationships, those branches. I'm thinking of like the fruit and the vine, but the branches that he knows are gonna bear fruit. So he's like putting them into place, and you are maybe setting new foundations, like you're kind of being prepared for that season of gun.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

I think we could literally see it as like, I don't know, I literally visualize it as if I'm taking care of a plant.

SPEAKER_03 14:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:47

And when I'm taking care of a plant, like what does it need before the fruit? Well, it needs consistent watering. It needs sunlight, and it's honestly a little bit of love too, like encouragement. Like I talk to my plants and guys, but it's like, yeah, I'm I'm thinking about what are the steps? It needs fertilization, like there needs to be, it's that time where you're you're taking the steps. It's like when you see an overnight success and you're like, oh my gosh, they were an overnight success, but they weren't. It was all the little steps consistently over time that added up. And I think that's what I see the spring as.

SPEAKER_00 15:20

I mean, yeah, as an entrepreneur, I literally see it as the time where maybe you're building the offer behind the scenes and nobody's seeing it yet, and you're setting up the sales funnels, right? And you're maybe like quietly building up demand within your audience, but you haven't launched, but you haven't started pitching, but you haven't started selling. Yeah, right. So there's a lot of steps that need to happen before you're actually ready for that influx of clients to come in. So that's how I see spring too.

SPEAKER_03 15:47

Yeah, totally.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

So the summer season is pretty much the season that everyone looks forward to. Um, and this is the time where you want to take action. Growth is visible, fruit is developing, and this isn't a time to hold back. When God tells you go, you go. And I think we've seen this so much in scripture where when God has given the go-ahead, like even in battle, right? Like they've always been successful in battles that God said, This is your battle. I'm giving this to you. Right. And I feel like I I picture summer like that. Um, and spiritually, this like can look like clear instruction. You might like know exactly what you need to do, or you might not even know exactly, but you have this inkling, and you also have this courage to be like, I I'm gonna do it. Yeah, like it's it's this courage and this obedience to do it. Yeah, and I think the summer also leads into a state of leadership where you might be brought around more people, you might have more of a um a time to to really use your voice and right, you'll be more visible. Yeah, yeah. Um, and the danger of summer can be delaying. So when it's time to go, delay. Um fearing. I think of course a lot of us fear like moving forward and and doing something, but this is why I think like the scripture scripture just constantly brings us back to scripture when we're in those moments of fear and just a reminder that when God says go, he's with you. Yeah. Um or passivity, right? So like just kind of ignoring it, like God's telling me to go, but like, eh, is he really telling me to go? Right. That can be a little bit dangerous. Yeah. In the summer season.

SPEAKER_00 17:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:39

And then we got the fall. I'm laughing because we have this down on our on our paper as like the warfare season. But it's like, yes, yes, and you will experience layers of that at like every I think season. But what I love about the fall is that this is really the time of reaping the harvest. It's like if we're actually utilizing every single season that God has given us well and in the way that he's asking us to, then when it comes time to the fall, you should see a bounty and a harvest that you've cultivated through the fruits of your labor, through the times of intimacy that you spent with him. Like everything is kind of leading to this moment where you're able to actually see the fruits. And it's less activity. I think this is where things start to really slow down. But the purpose of the fall is to reap what you've sown. And in the process of reaping what you've sown, you'll also confront things that the Lord still wants to remove and purify and clear out of you. So you may see certain patterns that are almost like resurfacing during the fall time. And it's almost like an indication of like, this is something we're, we're, we're putting down. This is something we're ready to complete.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

Something else that I think is interesting about fall is that you now have this harvest, right? You have this bounty and you want to make sure that you steward it well. Again, like I always think in entrepreneurial terms, I think it's a great way to look at like what might be happening in somebody's life. You can apply this to different areas of your life. But if you just, you know, launched the product, it went really well, you made a bunch of money. Now what do you do with it? Like, do you go out and spend it? Do you invest it? Do you put it into savings? Yeah. How are you gonna steward that money well? You also might look at, okay, what worked well for us? What led to great results? What didn't work well? Are there team members that I need to hire or fire? Is there a particular um system that I found that really led to the results I wanted? Where was I actually just spinning my tires or wasting time? Yeah. So I feel like you're kind of looking back and you're auditing at this point. And like the fall, it literal fall where the the leaves fall off the trees, it's like what's dead now gets to just fall away. And then we go into rest again, which is winter. Because after you go through this whole cycle, you need to rest, you need to regain energy, you need to regain wisdom for the next cycle. And you know, it's interesting being a woman and reading through this. Because I think another way we can really ground it down, especially for our female listeners, is reminding them that like you all go through this cycle every single month. We have our own inner spring, winter, fall, summer. Yeah. And if we tried to resist the point of our cycle that we're in, it would make our lives miserable.

unknown 20:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:35

You know, like if I was trying to like freaking, I don't know, launch a product or like be very visible and outward, go out, go out and like go salsa dancing when I just got my period, I would literally hate my life, you know.

SPEAKER_01 20:53

I literally went to the gym with her while she was on the floor on her back. Like, no, I'm doing this. Like, I am doing this. I literally was on the floor in the car. I'm gonna put sugar.

SPEAKER_00 21:04

I was like, yeah, I literally like could not move anywhere. No, but that's actually the equivalent of people who are trying to have summer in a winter when it's winter. Yeah, spiritually speaking, totally, you know? So it's like, what are we doing, guys? What are we doing? But you know what? We are gonna speak from our personal experience because I think, I mean, I can say I've been in a winter season. I don't know how I've been in a winter season for you.

SPEAKER_01 21:27

Yeah, so I thought originally I was in a fall season, but as I I was literally using ChatGPT because I'm like, okay, what season am I in? And no, but it's funny because at first it was asking me questions about like, what are you doing? What are this? And I could not answer any of them. And then I was like, I need more emotion to this. And it started to ask me questions. Actually, it's just when you take it. This is when you go to the Holy Spirit. I need more emotion. Oh my god. No, but listen, listen, it started to actually ask me questions. About how I felt. And that changed everything for me because I realized I was really in a I'm in a season where it's about observing. Well, how do I feel in this moment? What makes me feel good? What makes me feel not good? What is what am I noticing? Like it's it's about the the little moments of like observing. Where I don't know if you guys feel like that, because I think when we were talking, you guys kind of had a different interpretation of your winter than than me right now. Yeah. But I am in winter.

SPEAKER_03 22:31

Yeah, totally. And I think that's what's interesting is like you're describing it. Everyone has a different winter experience too, right? Like it's unique to, especially if you're cycling through this many times.

SPEAKER_00 22:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:40

You know, even the timelines of how long you'll be in each season, that's entirely up to God. Like you could go through a really quick winter and a very long spring, you know. Um, this could happen in a month, it could happen in the course of a year. For us, it happens monthly. Like amazing. But I think everyone has a very unique experience with that. And for me, my winter season, I really resonate with this piece of like feeling like I'm being hidden and also feeling like I'm being called into a time of deep listening. So it's not that it's inactive. We're still speaking through the winter. Like we're on a podcast, we're visible, we're doing things. Yeah. Um, you know, there's very clear, um, small instructions that the Lord is giving me to act on behind the scenes that are building patterns and habits within me that I know are going to actually set up a foundation that I can stand on as the seasons progress in spring and summer. Like he's preparing me to be able to hold more. Um, but he's also teaching me how to hear him better, how to listen to him more, more responsibly. Like, and I think that is really, in a lot of ways, the gift of a winter season. You know, the fact that it's so quiet, the fact that there's not a lot going on, the fact that he's calling you into rest is not just so that you can feel you will feel nourished, but it's because he wants to speak to you and he wants to know that you can hear his voice when he does. And if you don't know how to hear him, you got no business moving when it's come when it comes time for summer. Because that's just gonna lead to a whole lot of you doing your own thing that then he's gonna have to tear down and rebuild with you again and start the cycle all over again. So for me, I feel like I've just been in this process of like really, really deep intimacy and deep listening, um, still moving, like that quiet obedience that happens behind the scenes that no one really knows about. There are things he's having me do, but I'm just learning to be really faithful to his word. Um, being in the word too, because that's what's teaching me how to hear him. Especially when you go from being in the world, you don't actually know what God's voice sounds like until you're in the word. So I feel like for me, it's just been a time of um deep listening. And that's not to say that it's been easy either, because when you're learning how to listen to the Lord, you're also trying to figure out what is he saying, and it can feel very confusing at times. It can actually feel like nothing's going on, right? That's the the sort of warning, the danger of winter is like mislabeling it as like I'm a failure, like I am being left behind. I am like doing nothing with my life, essentially. Like it feels like things may be falling apart, but in reality, in actuality, they're being put into place.

SPEAKER_01 25:23

I think it's a big period of patience. Like, I think that's something I'm learning right now is to be patient in this season and also to be loving when I don't want to. Yeah. Like, I think that's a like when, especially as women, we know this. When we are in the warfare season of our illudial. Yeah, the warfare season. Our emotions can really affect the way that we express ourselves. But the whole purpose, the whole purpose of us, like being more like Jesus, is learning to be loving even when we're not feeling like it. Like even when we're not having it reciprocated. Yeah. And I think that's something that God is really teaching me right now.

SPEAKER_00 26:08

Yeah, totally. Yeah, I think my winter season has been interesting because it has not been restful in the sense of like being physically restful. Like I am working pretty much like 10 hour days. I feel like I have been like go, it hasn't been just like, you know what, let me have a slow morning and like read my Bible and like talk to the Lord. Like, it has not been that for me at all. I'm like up and then I'm like on calls and I'm like shifting between everything on my calendar, making sure I get my meals and my workouts in. And that's pretty much the only breaks I have throughout all the things on my to-do list that day. And it's been tough. Like, I'm literally sitting here with the Lord. Like, you have me in this weird limbo, and yet I'm and I'm so busy, I feel like I'm not even really getting to spend that intimate time with you. Like, literally, what is the point of this? Right. And for me, I would say the restfulness isn't, again, it's not a physical restfulness, but it's like he's had me rest from building businesses, which is which I love to do, building brands, like forward movement in the sense of like you have this vision and this goal, and you're working towards it. And that's been like my that's you guys know, like I have literally always had that. And it's been the thing that has given me a sense of purpose, giving me a sense of meaning in my life. And this is like the first, I think this is the first time maybe since university, but it feels more intense now than when I was in university. Um, where I just like don't have that. Like I don't have vision. I don't have a thing that I'm like, it's a concrete crystal thing that I like know I want to build and I'm gonna devote myself to it. And I'm getting up every day with that like drive and that passion to go out and do it. And I'm just like, what who am I? Like, what am I doing with my life? It literally feels like a complete identity crisis, and it's been really hard. Like, I'm just gonna be honest, it's been so hard. And I've really had to just like tell myself like that the Lord has a plan. Yeah. That like this season is not gonna last forever. That he is gonna give me new vision. And I've had, I think the one thing that's helped me is paying attention to what he's building up in me during this time. Because I see that there's certain skills that he's currently building up in me. Like he's truly teaching me the value of um financial stewardship and also how to manage my time incredibly well. Yeah. Um, and he's also had me, I I mean, it's kind of like a supernatural grace I feel that I've had when it comes to working out because that was like not my thing at all. I was not a gym girly. And now like I will get my three workouts in every single week. Yeah. No excuses. And I'm just like, I don't even know how I'm doing this. Like, I actually think the Lord is doing it through for me and like through me. Um, and I know that's gonna be really important because maybe he wants me to have a long and life. He has a lot to do with me, and he needs me to be strong and healthy for it. I don't know, but I can see how like he's giving me certain things right now that are going to help me carry an assignment that might come later. So that's literally I'm that's why I'm hanging on to like by a thread, and I'm like, okay, God, I probably I I believe in you, I trust you. Like, please get me through this.

SPEAKER_01 29:37

I mean, it's clear that you've had resistance in the season, like we all have, but has there been anything that's actually helped you move past that resistance? Because I like, I don't know, I don't know if it's true, but I feel like there's a truth to like being able to embrace it makes it a little bit easier in a sense, or maybe not easier, but more peaceful.

SPEAKER_03 29:57

Yeah. I mean, that's what surrender does. Right. It takes you from an experience where you're holding on and gripping and like clenched to suddenly like open and released. And it's like now what's actually happening through you can happen.

SPEAKER_01 30:12

So do you guys feel do you feel like you're still holding on? And like there might be bits of it. I think maybe there's bits of me that are still holding on, but have you released a little bit and what has helped you do that?

SPEAKER_03 30:22

Yeah. Day by day, babe. I feel like it's a day-to-day thing. Sometimes we're gripping, and sometimes I I feel like for me personally, I do feel a restfulness in my spirit in the sense that like I don't actually feel like I'm trying to take myself out of this season. Like I I feel the peace that comes from knowing that the Lord has me here and that his hand is on me in it. And his hand isn't the the hand of the Lord on your life doesn't always feel peaceful. Yeah, it feels like pressure sometimes. I actually so resonate with that. It feels like pressure sometimes, and I think that's like one of the scriptures. Like, what is it, like hard pressed but never crushed. Um, this is the thing. I am seeking him every day in this season. If I wasn't, I would be like, I think, I think I would be a little bit more scared and intimidated. But I'm literally seeking him every day. I'm in his word every single day. I'm talking to him every single day. I'm pressing into him every single day. I'm turning to people who are walking in their faith to cover me and to support me every single day. So I know that if I'm seeking the Lord, he's gonna move in my life. And he's gonna move in the timing that he wants to move. That's kind of like what's been giving me the peace and the comfort during a winter season. I'm like, yeah, I don't get it. And he's not asking me to get it. He's asking me to trust him because his unfailing love surrounds those who trust him. So I'm like, if I can do that, if I could just find one ounce of trust in me today and to lean in and to press into him, like I know that he has plans for my life to prosper.

SPEAKER_00 32:02

So, in understanding these four seasons that we are gonna cycle through as we grow spiritually, how has that changed the way that you understand who God is or the way that he works?

SPEAKER_01 32:17

He's very intentional. And I think that there's a purpose for every season, like there is clearly a purpose for every season, even when we don't see it. Like right now, I feel like God is showing me in his character. I I kind of picture God as like the loving parent. Like that's how I see God right now. He's a loving parent where he will discipline me, but with love. And he will not forsake me while he's disciplining me. Like, I think we see we can see discipline as a negative because maybe we've experienced it in a negative where that discipline meant a withdrawal of love and like a I don't want to part with you right now. Where God is like, with me is how I feel. He's like, Savannah, let's look into this, okay? This is not actually um, this is something we need to work on. This is something that, like, and I I'll ask him for something. Like in this season, I've had many times where I've been like, okay, God, just show me this, like, just show me this. And he doesn't. And I'm like, but I thought, like, but I asked, and you didn't, you didn't do it. But I know that he like, I think in the past I would have mistaken that as like, oh, he's just not here, he's not listening to me. But I know that he's here. Like he's very clearly shown me, I have not left you. If you're not drawing close to me right now, it's because you're also you're not drawing close to me, not because I'm not here. And um Yeah, he loves his children, and that also means that sometimes we're gonna be disciplined, but he's still gonna be there. He's still gonna comfort us through it. And I think that's what something he's really showing me.

SPEAKER_03 33:54

Yeah. I think for me, what I've noticed just in terms of understanding that God is like seasonal and he shapes us seasonally, like he takes us through different seasons to really mature us because God cares more about our character at times than he does our happiness. And that's a hard thing to understand as his daughter and as his child. He cares more about your character and your maturity than he does your happiness. And so I'm constantly asking myself and checking in with my own my my own heart around like what is the season that God has me in. And I feel like when that happens, it's kind of laying down my own expectations and my own preferences and even places where I may be operating in my own control and my own strength. And it takes me back into more of a humble heart posture that actually brings me closer to his heart and to what he wants for me. And like we experienced this with the podcast. Like the first question I had to ask myself when we, because this is not a bit, listen, guys, filming season one felt like a treat. We were like, oh, summer, like it was all coming together so seamlessly. Season two has been challenging. There's been a lot more resistance. It's been a lot harder for us to like really show up for this. And at the same time, it's because we're not in the same season that we were when we first filmed, when we first launched. And I feel like taking a step back to be like, what season does God even have this podcast in? It humbled me. It brought me back into a position of like, I am here to serve you. I'm your servant, I'm your hands and feet, whatever you want to do through me. And I repent for any ways in which I wasn't doing that before, in which I wasn't actually looking to you first for instruction and for direction and for guidance. So that perspective of like, what season am I in brings me back into right relationship with the Lord, I find, because it really has me laying down again my own form of control, my own pride, my own whatever it is, and has me instead start walking in his will.

SPEAKER_01 35:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:50

Right. If I want to be in a summer when he's got me in a winter, then I'm not walking in his will for me. And it's showed me that God is number one, a God of order and he's a God of timing. And so if he has you somewhere, it's because there's something he's doing and working in you in that particular season that's actually going to set you up and support you for the next thing that comes. But we need to be where he has us right now and to not skip those steps.

SPEAKER_00 36:18

What I've learned is that you don't need fruit all year round to be fed all year round. And this is what I mean by that. In our modern world, in our culture of hustle and grind and constantly need to be producing bigger and bigger and bigger bounty, people get burnt out. That's why we have a mental health crisis and a crisis around our ability to feel a sense of meaning and purpose in our lives. It's because people aren't operating through God's order of this seasonal approach to growth. So, what I mean by you don't need to have fruit all year round to be fed all year round is like in the seasons, there is going to be a moment where the fruit grows. But then you have to learn how to steward that fruit well in order to be fed through the fall and through the winter and through the spring. That allows you to actually have time where you can rest, where you can nourish yourself, where you can audit, you can see what worked, what didn't, you can gain new, fresh vision, you can store up nourishment and moisture so that when the summer comes, when the warmth comes again, you're actually ready to grow again. You're ready to go back into a moment of fruitfulness and an eventual harvest. We can't be expected to bloom all year round. It's not how God designed us. So instead of looking at how can I continue to produce fruit, ask yourself, what do I need to do with the fruit I have so that I can be fed even in the seasons that I'm not growing? And that's what he's teaching me right now in this season. Yeah, that's good. Thank you so much for listening, guys. We would love to know what season you're currently in. So let us know in the comments. Are you in winter? Are you in spring? Are you in summer? Are you in fall? Tell us a little bit about what that means for you, how this episode impacted you. And please, please, if you've been here for a while, especially, hit subscribe. We we really need the support. Like it means the world to us that you're here and that you're watching. But when you subscribe, it really allows us to be able to do this in the long term. And that's what we want to be able to do. We want to walk through all the seasons literally of life with you. So hit subscribe. Maybe share this episode with a friend. Definitely let us know what season you're in. And we will see you again on the next episode of Meet Me at the Altar.