A lot can happen in a week.

There’s been such a struggle within me during this most sacred time of the year. I yearn to spend time in reflection and meditation on what God has accomplished through the harsh beauty of the cross. And yet, I find myself beyond exhausted… physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually spent. Springtime looks and feels more like the depths of winter. Snow that has covered the ground since October, days that have been long, cold, and dark, a work I love but that is physically demanding. The truth is that I’ve been experiencing a wintertime of my soul.

Not only this long, bitter winter weather, but also facing some physical challenges, relational struggles, worries and concerns, discouragements, and a lot of soul-searching as Mike and I make some hard decisions. And then the news….oh the news is breaking my heart almost every day. Tornadoes ripping through small towns and communities, the news of a loved one’s hard diagnosis, and another school shooting, lives that will be irrevocably changed. 

It makes my heart ache to the depths of my being. The depth of the darkness in the world. The sin. The evil. The hopelessness. The devastation. The hate and hurt and division. The senselessness. It has felt more like a season of grief and despair rather than a season of hope and life. 

A few weeks ago I wrote for a friend’s Facebook Group about how this winter could easily be described for me as “The Winter of Our Discontent”. Although I’ve never read the John Steinbeck classic, this title has been stuck in my head for months. I think many of us feel that this winter has made us pretty discontent. For the first time in my life, I think I understand what “seasonal depression” is all about. These seemingly unending winter days have me believing that this hard season will never move on into the days of sunshine, and green grass. That the days of hope, peace, and joy are forever going to be missing from my life.

But what I feel God is showing to me – once again – is that, although wintertime seems to be a season of death and discouragement, there is life and purpose happening even now. The next season of life, hope, and renewal is right underneath the surface, just waiting to arrive in His perfect time. 

A lot can change within a short amount of time during Springtime on the ranch. The landscape begins to come to life as green grass, wildflowers, and tree buds begin to make their appearance. Suddenly temperatures will become milder and I will feel the warmth of the sun on my face. We might wake up to snow in the morning, but by noon it’s melted, creating a lot of welcomed mud and running creeks. Baby calves, baby chicks, and new wildlife. The sudden appearance of bluebirds, meadowlarks, and sandhill cranes fills the air with their songs. Signs of new life give evidence of a Creator who creates and sustains life and Who longs to delight us and Whose faithful love never leaves. 

Death seems to be our reality, yet, the truth is that life is still happening underneath the surface. God never gives us a season of wintertime without the promise of spring. He gives us the assurance that He will bring life out of what looks dead.

From death to life. . . isn’t this exactly what the sacredness of this season is all about? That Christ gives us the promise of Easter Resurrection, that we can take off the grave clothes that bind us and we can be set free to bask in the warmth of light and life. Released from a tomb that was meant to keep us in bondage to death, except that God had a better more sovereign plan. 

Death seems to be our reality, yet, the truth is that life is still happening underneath the surface. God never gives us a season of wintertime without the promise of spring. He gives us the assurance that He will bring life out of what looks dead.

“He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” 1 Peter 2:22-25

As we begin this holiest of weeks I can’t help but think about how much can happen in 7 days! Everything changed for the entire world between Palm Sunday and Resurrection Sunday.

Between these two Sundays, Jesus:

Was celebrated as King and Messiah by an adoring crowd

Cursed a fig tree

Angrily cleansed the temple

Was questioned and hated by religious leaders

Was betrayed by one He loved

Enjoyed a meal with His closest friends & confidants

Prayed in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane

Was arrested and brought to trial

Stripped, beaten, and mocked

Abandoned by His closest friends 

Willingly gave His life for us

He went from performing miracles and gaining a following to willingly enduring unimaginable pain and suffering. He began what’s known as “Passion Week” riding on a donkey like royalty to hanging on a cross as the Suffering Servant. He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows, was smitten for our sakes, afflicted, pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities. (Isaiah 53)

The words spoken in prophecy in Isaiah 53 became a reality in the accounts found in the gospels, and we’re reminded of the truth of what was accomplished in 1 Peter 2:22-25. Jesus suffered, but not because of anything evil in Him; in deed and in word He was perfectly pure and just. Yet, He experienced suffering because He chose to bear our sins as a substitute for us, and His death provided for our healing.  

After His death, Jesus was taken to be buried in another man’s tomb. All seemed lost and hopeless to those who had put all of their trust and hope in Jesus. They faced that Sabbath Saturday in deep grief, complete despair, and overwhelming fear. 

Nothing would ever be the same again.

When the women who loved Him went to the grave the next day, they found the stone had been rolled away and nothing remained but Jesus’ grave clothes. What an amazing thing that must have been, going to the tomb in grief, leaving in joy and hope!

What only took a week to be carried out was actually God’s eternal plan and purposes unfolding throughout history. 

And nothing would ever be the same again.

I’m so grateful that God, in His mercy, has shown us that His plans will eventually take care of all of the sin and evil, of all the hurt and sorrow that we experience in the here and now. It might feel to you like all hope is gone, and that this season of pain and suffering will never end, but Beloved, this Holy Week reminds us that death has been defeated, the grave is empty, Jesus is alive and one day He will return and redeem all the hard and heavy, erasing all the sin and evil that pervades our world. 

During this Most Holy of weeks, cling to that hope dear ones, because that hope changes everything.