I took a walk during my lunch break one day last month and at the time couldn’t help thinking that we shouldn’t be experiencing such cold weather in June. This thought was quickly followed with the reality that this is England and we can experience all four seasons in one day.

Then that still small voice said to me “seasons change…"

Life experiences are much like the changing seasons. One moment we can feel as though we are on top of the world, then the next it feels as if we are carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders. Things can change from bright to bleak in the blink of an eye!

Look around you and you will clearly see Ecclesiastes 3 (1-8) playing out; laughter and sadness, life and death, conflict and peace, financial highs and lows and the list goes on. The thing is, just like the seasons of the calendar year have their time, place and purpose, the same goes for the  things we experience in life - whether good or bad.

We cannot live life expecting everything to go our way - this is just not realistic. In the same way, we cannot live each day expecting the worst either. I say appreciate the good days/experiences and trust God to guide you through the more challenging ones.

Whilst I cannot in any way relate to the tragedy he experienced, I can’t help but wonder if/how Horatio Spafford grasped the concept of changing seasons and exchanging his pain and loss for God’s comforting peace when he penned the words of the song It is Well with My Soul.

I do, however, hope and pray that with faith in God and ourselves, we too can reach a point where we can truly live out these words:

“When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul."