Living purpose: God’s appointed seasons for your life

Here we are, over halfway through September already! Time just seems to fly by. The seasonal clock has rolled over, and fall is officially here. I know that where I am, I can already sense the change of seasons—the morning air is cooler, the humidity is down, and it’s getting darker sooner in the evening.

It reminds me of the scripture from Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 (Ampl):

“There is a season (a time appointed) for everything and a time for every delight and event or purpose under heaven—A time to be born and a time to die; A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.”

God’s appointed times and seasons

Just as there are seasons in the natural, so there are seasons in the spiritual. We can also call seasons, cycles. A cycle is defined as “any complete round or series of occurrences that repeats or is repeated.”  Merriam-Webster defines it as “a course or series of events or operations that recur regularly and usually lead back to the starting point.”

Our lives are full of cycles, some smaller and of shorter duration, and others bigger and longer. Ecclesiastes tells us that there is purpose in every cycle of events we go through. Some questions we should ask ourselves, then, are:

What is the purpose of where I am now?

What is it that God wants to instill in me in preparation for where He’s taking me?

How do I make the most of the cycle that I’m in?

A cycle is like a circle: it is completed when the end meets with the beginning. Unfortunately, too many of us, me included, don’t yield to the workings of Holy Spirit and end up repeating the same cycle over and over again. It’s like when you don’t learn your lessons in school and you have to repeat the same grade over until you pass.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to stay where I am! I want to go up higher toward heaven, be a better person, be a better reflection of Jesus to those around me, be a better wife, and walk in the divine purpose for which God created me. I want to know God, not just know about Him. My desire is for Ephesians 3:19 (Ampl):

“[that you may come] to know [practically, through personal experience] the love of Christ which far surpasses [mere] knowledge [without experience], that you may be filled up [throughout your being] to all the fullness of God [so that you may have the richest experience of God’s presence in your lives, completely filled and flooded with God Himself].”

Evaluating where you are

One of the hardest times to navigate is when a season comes to a close. I know that personally because I’m there right now! We often get comfortable in the cycle we are in, and so when it comes full circle, we’re not happy about letting go. We want to stay where we are—in our comfort zone! Even if we don’t like where we are, we feel safer staying with the security of the known and familiar vs the unknown.

It’s uncomfortable and scary to let go. God has this way of bringing one cycle to a close before He initiates the next one. There is often a period of time where we feel like we are suspended in mid-air, with no solid ground under our feet. This is a very risky time—a time where we can be easily led astray by our financial needs, emotions, or satan’s cunning distractions to get us off course.

In the chapter titled “Divine Seasons and Cycles” from his book on partnership, Izak Bester says, “We have an enemy out there—satan—who is consistently working against us and who will continuously strive to manipulate circumstances to frustrate and influence us to make wrong choices and wrong decisions.” What we do in this time is absolutely critical because how we end one cycle influences what happens in the next cycle.

Resisting God’s plan and purpose

We must remember that God has a plan and purpose not only for each one of us but for each appointed time in our lives. He has an end destination in mind, and He knows what needs to be worked out of us and worked into us to get there. He knows the spiritual maturity that we will need and the gifts, skills, and talents we will need. He says in Jer 29:11 (Ampl): “For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

Oftentimes, we start to get a whiff of change but ignore it. I’ve had this happen in my own life. I’ve experienced warning signs along the way, telling me that change was coming, but I just brushed them aside because it didn’t serve my needs or wants. Sometimes we just don’t see the reason for it. We think where we are is perfectly fine.

The opposite can also be true. We try to either get ahead of God and skip a step, or resist God and get out of the cycle early because of impatience, challenges, or not understanding where we are. This last one is a big one. I can’t tell you the number of times something has happened to me that just didn’t make sense at all.

Instead of doing what Prov 3:5-6 says, we either blame God, blame others, or blame ourselves. Learning to rely on and trust in God and not in our own understanding is a challenging, yet essential part of our walk with Him.  It’s called faith.

“A time to be born and a time to die; A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.”

What cycle needs to die off in your life—or maybe already is in the process of doing so—so that a new cycle can be birthed? What is God calling you to let go of or walk away from that you are resisting?

What things in your life—your habits, your ways of thinking, your lifestyle, your relationships—need to be uprooted? We all have previous cycles and events in our lives that may not have been fully resolved, and we bring parts of those forward with us. They are like the tentacles of an octopus or the deep roots of a tree. From a spiritual perspective, these things keep us attached to the source and in submission and bondage to it and past events.

What we don’t deal with in our current cycle will simply follow us to the next. If Holy Spirit brings something to your attention, it’s best to uproot it, repent of it, cut it off, and leave it behind. You want a clean field to plant in, not a contaminated one, so that you can reap the fullness of the next harvest God intends for you.

I’d like to end this article with another quote from Izak: “We must remember that learning, growing, changing, and getting rid of “old baggage” often comes during the journey—not at the end. What is of vital importance is that we deal with every circumstance, every event, and every lesson we encounter during a cycle and not carry it forward as additional undealt with and unnecessary baggage.

We are to make the most of every cycle, of every season, because each one is designed to equip us for His next course of events for our lives. God delights in taking us from here to there and showing us all kinds of new things we never thought possible. No matter how it happens, when God closes a cycle, we must be willing to accept it and not get emotional about it, rather appreciate and value it for what it was. By closing one cycle, God is about to usher us into a brand new cycle. We must not be like Lot’s wife, who looked back over her shoulder, longing for what was and missing out on what is to be.”

How a biblical health coach can help

Whether you are in a cycle, in-between cycles, or getting ready to end or begin a cycle, there is always personal work to be done. Sometimes we can manage on our own, and sometimes not. That’s where I can help.

Let me say that a health coach is different than a life coach. If you are wanting help with making a career move, a life coach is more suited. If you are looking to improve your health through lifestyle changes, a health coach is more suited.

To understand how biblical health coaching is different, you can read my blog post on that here.

Any time there is a change in God’s season for your life, it can come with a degree of stress and even emotional trauma. During this time, eating and exercise habits can go south. Your sleep can suffer. Your hope is challenged. And for a season (pun intended) you might need someone to walk alongside of you to provide encouragement, accountability, goal setting, creating action plans, overcoming obstacles, and health education.

Physical health is a component of resilience. Resilience is the ability to manage stressors in a positive, healthy way and maintain physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing in the face of adversity.  Resilience is being able to walk through the storm, the desert, or the valley of the shadow of death to the other side instead of getting stranded and camping out there.

Your health can be a determining factor in your resilience and how well you are able to navigate changes in your life. If you’d like to talk more and discover if biblical health coaching is right for you, I’d love to talk with you! You can reach me here.

If you are interested in biblical health coaching, contact me for a free discovery session.

You can learn more about me here.

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