I heard once that as soon as they finish painting the Golden Gate Bridge, it’s time to repaint again. Well, that’s how shoveling the driveway has been lately. So faced with yet another snow day, I needed to run into work and my son was along for the ride. We were greeted with an unplowed driveway (or possibly one that was shoveled 10 minutes ago; it’s hard to say) and since he had left his boots at school, he was clad only in tennis shoes. As I am not in the habit of leaving my winter gear at various places (seriously, every time I walk by the lost & found at school, I need a laundry basket to haul it all home), I laced up boots for the blizzard and he did not. Alas, being the great parent that I am, I said, “I will walk to the door in my tall boots and you follow in my footsteps, since the snow is literally up to your knees . . . which is why we have boots.” Anyway, who can bother to remember appropriate foot wear? (Not him!)

I was equipped to handle the weather. I had donned all my armor, so to speak: coat, hat, gloves, (clears throat) boots. I had checked the weather report and saw blizzard and got out the big guns—my Russian princess coat, the gloves you can’t even bend your fingers in and a hat, complete with the ball thingy on the end (that means you are serious, by the way). I was ready to go. I’m one of those weirdoes, who kind of likes winter, but fully know part of the reason is that I’m well prepared for it. I have good gear, so I don’t feel the icy chill one would, say, without a coat and boots.

I do believe it’s a fairly common phenomenon for children to not want to wear their coats and hats. In fact, in my house it’s almost a daily argument.

Me in a bewildered tone: “You need a coat; it’s 12 degrees out there.”

Said child: “But if anything, I’m too hot right now.”

Me (still bewildered): “Yes, well, you are inside where it is heated, but you are about to enter the tundra where the wind chill is like 8 degrees. I promise, you will want a coat.”

With no faith and under threat of duress, said child, dons his coat as if he is doing me a favor! Then 20 minutes later wants to come in because . . . wait for it . . . he is cold.

Children and so many of us tend to live in the moment, don’t we? Everything is fine now; I’m warm and don’t need any more layers. The Bible tells us . . . In this world, you will have trouble (John 16:33). . . We are warned over and over again that we need to be ready for battle. Our enemy, Satan, has a blizzard planned. We know it’s coming because we can check the forecast (the prophetic Word of God) Yup, 100% chance of warfare; wear your winter coat. Parents, teachers and reasonable adults can look outside and see snow and logically say, you will need your boots. God has also “looked” outside and knows that storms are coming.

Our All-Knowing God, like any good parent wants his children to do well in the elements and, say, not lose a finger to frostbite. So, he gave us some gear to put on. It’s called the armor of God. You can read all about this armor in the book of Ephesian (chapter 6) and there are many good studies that focus on this crucial teaching of the Bible. I have done several, but one of my favorites is by Pricilla Shrier, called the Armor of God. I highly recommend it.

When you get ready to go out in the world put on your:

Belt of Truth

Breastplate of Righteousness

Shoes of the Gospel of Peace

Helmet of Salvation

Sword of the Spirit

Shield of Faith

We, in our ignorance or immaturity, don’t always think we need these things. We are comfortable and from our point of view, we can’t see any warfare. But God, our loving Father, says to put it on daily. We don’t always like to listen. It takes time after all to zip up a coat and dig a hat out of the bin. We need to study the armor so we understand it, take the time to pray about it, build our faith and trust in Him. It is far easier to just walk outside. But like a kid, we will only last about 20 minutes before we feel like we are going to lose a toe and want to come back inside. Winter is a hard season, in many ways; I believe it can be a picture of life’s struggles and hardships. Our spiritual life has cycles, just like the seasons of the year - the cold, dormant winter moving into the the spring and the renewal of life.

Winter (physically and spiritually) can be depressing. I think of the part from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, where the witch made it always winter and never Christmas. Wouldn’t the enemy just love to overwhelm us in our winter seasons. We feel cold, isolated, shut off from the sun (the Son). Yet, God gave us winters in our lives for a purpose, each unique in its lesson. Perhaps you are feeling lonely or you would give anything for some alone time. Perhaps you have been battling health issues and feel as if you have more questions than answers. Or a friendship you counted on has unexpectedly froze. An exciting business venture seems stuck or yet another promotion passed you by. Whatever the “winter” is you are dealing with, God knew it was coming. And while we would much rather he had rerouted the storm, it still hits. Sometimes one after another.

The good news, though, is that you have a loving Parent who knew it would be cold outside. He bought you some winter gear and laid it out by your door. He won’t wrestle you into it, but it is there for the taking. We will feel the chill of this fallen and broken world, and yet, the Lord knew this and prepared a coat to keep you warm during this season of life. It’s so much better with our armor intact. We have a loving Savior who has walked ahead of us. Jesus arrived fully human (as well as fully God), so He knows what it’s like to walk knee-deep in struggles. He left His footprints for us to follow in when we bring shoes (instead of boots) to a snowstorm. His steps lead us to know the Word, to be in communion with our Lord and Savior through prayer and to be in community with other believers. Have you ever been surprised by a neighbor snow blowing your driveway? What an unexpected blessing! In turn, who can we bless even in the midst of our own blizzards? Maybe you can babysit for an overwhelmed mother, invite a lonely co-worker to coffee, offer prayer (and cookies) to a hurting friend, teach a new Christian about the armor of God, or shovel someone’s driveway (more than once in a day?).

What is God doing in this winter of your life?

What lessons?

What calling do we have even during the blizzards?

Look for God’s footprints in the snow (and wear your coat!)

We all have vulnerable spots. I’m sensitive to bright lights, as everyone in my life will attest. I have never met a dimmer switch I didn’t love. We have two light switches in my bathroom. One goes to a lovely muted luminary that bathes the room in soft warm colors. The other activates three fluorescent lights that are equivalent to the white hot glow of an operating room. I never ever use that light. It feels like a direct switch to a headache. I don’t care if I have something in my eye or need to remove a sliver out of a child’s foot, it will be done in that low lighting. While the rest of my family uses this other light switch without a thought; they even seem to enjoy all the extra eye-popping brightness.

In the same way my eyes are sensitive to bight lights, my emotions also have weak spots. Things that have happened to me in the past have caused wounds. Like when people talk about sisters, it sometimes feels like a prick. I have to quietly deal with a wound that no one can see. I lost a sister. So, when someone starts causally talking about plans they have with their sister or how they talk everyday or even how annoying they might be, I can’t help but feel that loss. Time has healed much of that wound, but it’s still there. Nobody means to hurt me, of course. Some days it doesn’t even phase me, but other days it cuts; but I just keep smiling and nodding. I don’t want my friends to not mention their sisters.

Perhaps all your friends are getting married and you just experienced a terrible breakup. How do you get through those wedding showers and sit at a table with your parents pretending to be happy when inside you are hurting? You can’t ask people to not get married, you can’t not be happy for them. But there is a wound there that nobody can see. We have all had losses. A friend mentions how her dad fixed her car and you never even met your dad. A wound is touched. Your co-worker is buying a house when you are thinking you might have to move back home to save money. You started a ministry that can’t seem to get any funding while others seem to flourish. We try to hide our invisible hurts, so no one sees us flinch when when they talk about their spouse, their baby, their job . . .

The Enemy Hits Us Where it Hurts the Most

The places we feel like we aren’t enough are the places the enemy hits hardest, because it does the most damage—the quickest. If you were in a fight with a guy who had a broken arm, where are you going to punch him? In the place that will bring him to his knees. We are in a spiritual battle and our adversary does not play fair! You have a difficult child who is hard to parent, where will you get attacked? There! Someone will point out what you are doing wrong (when they don’t know anything about it). And bam! The enemy has you reeling. Your marriage is struggling and someone will go on about how great their marriage is and how it just gets better every year while yours seems to get harder. A hit in just the right spot. You feel stuck in your office job and are wondering about purpose when your roommate from college calls to announce they are opening their own business. You are glad this conversation is over the phone so they can’t see your face while you take the hit.

We do not feel the punches in our strong areas. If you rock at your job or have an easy marriage or are about to get a book published, comments can be made and they just roll off because you know they aren’t true. We are attacked in the vulnerable places. In the spots we worry about or the areas we carry a hurt or that secret fear. How do you recover when you are punched in a broken spot? Those comments can take your breath away, make you lose your footing. You want to just lay on the ground. It’s easy to be mad at that person or the situation, but we need to remember that it’s often the enemy at work and this is what he does. If you are in a knife fight, you can’t be surprised when you get cut. Yet, I find myself surprised. Like . . . “hey, that hurt!”

Don’t be Mistaken: We Are in A Battle

This life is a battle; it isn’t practice, it’s the real thing. We are in active combat. This is why the Bible instructs us to pray on the amour of God each day (Ephesians 6). Not because we are going to spar with a friend, but because we are in battle everyday—if we like it or not (1 Peter 4:12). So, when the enemy (through that guy at work or even your sweet grandma) says just the right thing, that speaks to your biggest hurts and fears you can know immediately you are in a fight for your emotions and your heart. The point is to take you down. To make you doubt God’s love (If God loved me, would I have lost my sister?). To make you doubt your calling (I’m not good at talking about my faith, maybe I should just be quiet). To make you doubt the hard things (someone else would be a better parent to this child). To make you doubt your purpose (Shouldn’t I find happiness in my family/job/ministry—maybe there is something more?).

As if the hard things shouldn’t be hard.

As if the struggles can and should be avoided.

As if the lies are true.

We must be ready for battle. We must suit up and pray up and read up. The Bible will instruct you; the prayers will empower you; the Holy Spirit will lead you. You have everything you need to fight the good fight. But you will get hurt. Nobody goes into war thinking they will emerge the same. They will be shot at, wounded and hardened by the blows of the enemy. From each battle we emerge with more experience (2 Tim 2:4). I know if I don’t start my day in prayer, I’m already set up for some blows. It’s not that prayer stops the blows; actually, I think it often “ups” them, but I’m ready to handle them.

If we are wounded, it is much harder to keep fighting. We often need others to drag us to safety. We need to go to the medic. Who is our Great Physician? Who is the Healer of our souls? The very One who created us, will also heal us. When we bring our soul wounds to Him, our Lord and Savior will do a great work in us. Sometimes it is major surgery (which could be preformed under the lights in my bathroom!). When we come to Christ, our loving Father lays us out and removes our hearts of stone and give us new hearts.

Ezekiel 36:26-27

“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”

Nobody questions the major undertaking of a heart transplant. Getting a new spiritual heart is pretty major, also. It changes our life in dramatic ways. Things that used to bring us pleasure become dull, as we shift from a selfish worldly view to an eternal spiritual view. There are aspects of this change that happen suddenly. I once sat with a friend in my home and could see the heaviness of her past etched in her face; yet, a few moments later when she came to the Lord, it was instantly lifted. One of the first things she said after we prayed was, “The heaviness is gone!” She didn’t need to tell me. I could see it in her face. She met her Saviour and he removed her heavy heart and put in a living/beating heart that pushed blood through her soul into places that were formally crippled.

Other changes come on slowly, over years as our new hearts pump the oxygenated blood of new life to parts of our souls we thought were dead. Healing soul wounds that were caused by sin done to us, sin we fell into, perhaps, because of a family cycle of hurt or a temptation that we thought would soothe our wounds. But, in fact, it deepened the damage. I have been walking with the Lord several decades and just in the last few years, I have come to realize some of the places I carry wounds. Instead of letting air and light get to them where they can heal, I instinctively hide them, keeping them in the dark where they fester and spread into other aspects of my life.

Let the Healing Begin

I asked the Holy Spirit to expose them, so I could pray for the healing I didn’t even understand I needed. The wounds I had wrapped up in the loss of my sister were many and painful. There are ways I unknowingly respond to life—reacting in hurt or depression, never connecting it back to that vulnerable spot. God has removed much of that weight, just by exposing it. When something pricks me, I can say I know why this hurts. I don’t want to react in a way that brings me low. I can feel sad. I can feel the loss. But, I don’t want my reactions to be something that causes me to sin or causes me to pull back when I should be pushing in.

What soul wounds do you have in your life?

Can you connect some of your seemingly odd or extreme reactions to that hurt?

What if you asked the Lord to start healing those spots?

The Lord keeps showing me that He is enough. His grace is sufficient. The things I think I need to be okay are the very places He will fill. The hurts are a reminder that this world is not home. I have a promise that I will see my sister again (along with others gone ahead). Meanwhile, He has brought women into my life that I call sister . . .and my heart fills. I stand up in their weddings and the program says—sister to the bride. And that wound closes a little. I have a group of women in my life that are as dear to me as sisters. We have a depth in our relationships that I imagine is as deep as a blood sister (and perhaps deeper in some cases). That spot is very tender, but not as gut-wrenching as it was at one time. The term “soul sister” means more to me than most.

Ask the Lord to reveal your wounds so you can ask for healing in those areas

Have you already experienced some healing? Was it instant or slowly over time?

If you feel led to support my ministry in anyway, I would love to hear from you.