​​​​​​​​​Hello Everyone. I'm Annie Warner Donnelly and I feel like I have been Building a Life for All Seasons© my whole life. I once received a card that says: “One tree stands tall, reaches for the sun, weathers any storm …” Think of the seasons a tree weathers: the cold, stormy winds of winter; the strength it takes to produce new leaves and blossoms in spring; the heat, the drought of summer; the quiet rest as the tree prepares for Canada’s icicles.

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We're like that tree. Through the decades of our lives, there are seasons of heartaches; loneliness; uncertain times; heart-wrenching grief; fear caused by illness and difficult relationships; challenges we think are too great to bear, but woven through all these seasons are sparkles of joy; of discovery; of fun and fellowship; answers to questions and answers to prayers; and if we allow them, moments of the perfect peace that God so consistently and lovingly offers to us. ​​

 

Before your stop reading because I mentioned God, please hear me out.

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When our identity is build upon the wisdom of God's creation and His words, when His truth is the foundation of what we think and do, we can build a life that enables us to peacefully journey through the events - the seasons - of our lives.

 

Every day provides an opportunity to recognize and celebrate what God has helped us achieve so far; to be grateful for how He’s helping us today with the challenges of the season we’re in; to be reminded that God never leaves us nor forsakes so we know that He’ll be with us today, tomorrow, and every day after that. 

 

Perhaps you haven't been able to see any evidence of Him helping you. ​It took me a long time to recognize His presence in my life. I finally could see that, before I began to develop a relationship with Him, He'd been quietly on my side, helping in ways that I never imagined. I can help you begin to recognize His presence in your life; His wise presence is a blessed comfort in times of trouble.

 

His presence in our lives increases our faith in Him and deepens our belief that we can achieve what feels impossible because the Bible’s true, strong, irrevocable and everlasting words say that nothing is impossible with God; that God is love. His plans for us are to give us a future and a hope. 

 

If we trust God as we set the building blocks of our lives into place, we gain access to the precious gift of His divine peace that enables us to remain strong and steadfast in our hearts and minds; to be courageous and kind. We can begin to thrive in the toughest challenges believing that all things work together for our good, just as the Bible says they do.

 

Let's believe that we can trust God's love wherever we are in the world and in every situation. May He guide us always. Amen.