We all go through seasons in our lives. It can sometimes feel like everything around us is flourishing much like springtime, or that we are losing all our hard earned work, resembling the trees dropping their leaves in the fall. Sometimes we just cruise and bask in easy days like summer, and other days, you can feel cold and barren like the frozen days of winter. If you wait long enough in any season, it’s bound to change. If I’m being transparent, which I always try to be, I think I’m somewhere in the “in between.”

Have you been there?

That “in between” season can be the hardest as the glimmer from what is fading, and the hope of what’s coming is still too far ahead to see. There are times when God plants purpose in our hearts, and we are filled with such passion that we pour everything into achieving that purpose. The drive to reach it is so thick you could almost reach out and grab it! I love those times!

In 2011, I had a beautiful springtime moment when I won the Star Fish contest and got to play the main stage for Fishfest, a huge Christian Music festival in front of 12,000 people! My call time was sandwiched between David Crowder Band and Third Day. I cried happy tears as I listened to David Crowder sing “He Loves Us” from backstage and smiled when Mac Powell said, “Hey, good job,” to me as I walked on stage. I remember taking pause in that moment and thinking, “This may be the only chance I have to sing in front of this many people,” and so I took it all in.

Following that moment have been many amazing moments getting to see people worship Jesus along with me. I have seen God fulfill the deep purpose He placed in me over and over again. But I feel a stirring in my heart. Like the scent of jasmine on the evening breeze, a new purpose is calling me, but I’m not sure what it is quite yet. To be honest, it’s a bit uncomfortable. It feels like that hot, muggy air that comes at the end of summer right before the crispness of fall.

So, what should you do when you feel the seasons changing, and you’re kind of stuck in the “in between,” waiting for your new purpose?

Well, have you ever seen roses that have feen fully pruned and cut back? They look sort of ugly when they are trimmed down to branches, and aren’t much to look at. But the deeper the pruning, the bigger the bloom.

When we are feeling stuck, we are actually being prepared.

If you’re in a season like me, where you are feeling like those scraggly, old rose bushes that have been pruned mercilessly, just wait a little longer. But don’t be dormant; a rose bush isn’t dead. It’s being fortified, nourished and is just waiting to flourish when the time comes.

God says in Isaiah 43:18-19, “Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland!”

You see, the “in between” season is God’s chance to feed, fortify and fill you with all you will need to bloom. He will be revealing the new purpose He has for you bit by bit. So, if you are in the space between seasons, remember along with me that this time is never wasted. Seek God, and wait expectantly for the new vision He has for your future!

“I break everything,” I whimpered with tears streaming down my face. I stared down at the floor to see the bright, yellow, broken pieces of my brand new happy face mug. I was about eight years old, and I had received this glass mug as a gift only moments ago. My dad has detailed this story for me multiple times, as he remembers the defeat he could see in my face and as I looked up at him with the shattered pieces of my new present at my feet. I was a pretty clumsy kid, and while I didn’t break everything, I did break a lot of things. I wonder if you have ever felt like that.

A porcelain mug is easy to replace, but what about life altering decisions that you can’t change.

Sometimes we can be left feeling like we are just a failure at life. One of my daughters is just like me. She’s pretty clumsy, “Sorry baby girl, it’s all my fault!” Nobody is perfect, but beyond the everyday slips and trips, aren’t we all clumsy at times with our choices, actions and thoughts? We all have a propensity to do the wrong thing, when we should do the right thing.

Just like my Dad saw sorrow in my face over my butter fingers dropping a brand new present, I’ve seen the same defeat on my little girl’s face when she has disobeyed in the same way again and again. Without a word from her lips, I can read her sweet face that says, “I break everything.” My mother’s heart breaks when I see such sadness on my daughter’s face. Not only because of the visible defeat, but the disappointment in my own heart. I want my kids to love and honor God and be rewarded for making the right choices, and I’m so sad when they don’t.

How much more does our Father desire good things for us?

Not many of us wake up every morning wondering what sort of mischief we can get into. I would venture to say that most of us start out with plans to do good. Plans to be kind, and hopefully, plans to follow God with all our strength. Sometimes, it doesn’t take long for things to go bad though does it? Often, before our feet hit the floor, we’ve already taken a turn for the worst. It shouldn’t surprise you to hear that everyone has the exact same struggles.

There isn’t one of us that is more broken than the other.

We all have pieces that we are working hard to put back together. And every single one of us is completely helpless to do it on our own. We need Jesus. Psalm 34:18 reminds us that, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in Spirit.” What a comfort these words are to weary and broken souls. To know that our Father is closer when we are sad and saves us when our soul is in despair, allows the heavy heart to beat again with new life.

So if you’re feeling like little girl Shannon staring at the broken pieces of your life, be encouraged. You are in good company. Life is a series of falling apart and being put back together. It is a beautiful thing to let the Creator of the entire universe come to restore the shattered shards that litter our life. There is no one who knows us better, and none is more eager to get started on the work of restoration. I encourage you today to give God your broken pieces, and allow Him to lovingly start putting things back into place. There is no better Healer than the one who created you, knows you and loves you.