Spring Fever…

The pollen here is horrible.

I have never ever been prone to suffer allergies, until now.

Oh. My. Goodness.

I have coughed my head off during the days and even worse at night.

One day last week, I had to run into the grocery store bathroom due to a coughing spell that would not end. It was loud, oh so loud.

Post Covid world is a different place when you cough. Good grief. You would think I killed their first born child when I have to cough near someone.

As I coughed my lungs up in that grocery store bathroom, I dialed my husband on the phone and told him he would have to come and get the buggy and check out the groceries without me.

The second the cough let up I ran out of the store and into our car…where I coughed some more.

Frustrated and over it, I told my husband that I was just DONE with this pollen. It needed to end, I needed to feel better, and I sure as heck needed to stop coughing!

He looked over at me in the car with those big blue-ish green eyes and said, “Jill, it will pass. It’s a cough. Just deal with it.”

I could have slapped him.

But, I knew he was right.

It would eventually end.

I would eventually stop coughing, and the pollen would eventually leave.

This is where I can struggle at times.

When hard times come, when an uncomfortable situation arises…I want to skip right through it. I want to fast forward to the next stage, the next season.

I forget that God has things for me here, right where I am. In the coughing, nose blowing, itchy eyes, sore throat days of my life.

My husband reminded me of something that I seem to forget when life is uncomfortable…

“This too shall pass.”

Often, I spend all my time wishing away the season I am in and dreaming of better days…I miss out on what He has for me. I miss out on keeping my eyes on Him and not the calendar days ahead.

When my son was in high school, I could not wait until he graduated.

High school was not a cake walk for him in many ways. Academically he was fine, but it was the other parts that made it difficult.

It was not a cake walk for me as a mother either. It is lonely.

Narrow paths become lonely paths.

Friends that you once had suddenly disappear.

Honestly, I really learned what prayer was during those years. I was on my knees more days than I was standing up.

I kept begging God to let it go by quickly…let the next season come…with all its fruit and glory.

Looking back, 4 years later, I see that there was much to be gleaned from that season. Those years created a faith in him that could not have been created otherwise. He became stronger. He became more resilient. He learned to persevere.

Not only him, but I did as well.

My faith grew. The rubber literally met the road with my faith and my relationship with Jesus.

If you ask my son now about high school, he will quickly say, “I miss those days.”

Never in a million years would I envision him saying those words.

He remembers the good things. He remembers the things that made him grow.

The season did pass. New seasons came

Do you find yourself in a hard place or a lonely place?

Lean into Jesus.

Talk to Him.

Pray to Him.

Get to know Him in His Word.

Sometimes the loneliness is the only thing that will truly draw us to Him.

You will come out stronger.

You will come out more faithful.

You will come out wiser.

A scripture that I have clung to during these hard seasons and that I pray often over my children is…

To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the LORD has planted for his own glory. Isaiah 61:3

Beauty instead of ashes.

Blessing instead of mourning.

Praise instead of despair.

Great oaks for His Glory.

Rest your little head on that goodness.

taking my cough medicine,

jill