There's a season for everything - we're currently in the season of flannels and pumpkin spice everything...

But, what about our spiritual seasons? Seasons of drought? Or seasons of dread? Seasons of life, of death, of rebirth... What about seasons of change?

After a terrible week, I decided to rearrange my room. I asked my roommate to come see, and I explained to her that I just needed a change. Her initial reaction was one of hesitation, probably because my newly arranged room looked like the aftermath of a war zone. One comment from her has stuck with me over the past few days.

"I can't do change like this. It would mess me up and throw me off track for the entire week."

Rearranging my room is something my sister and I often indulged in growing up. In our younger years, we switched rooms (multiple times) during the hours Mom and Dad were gone to work. In middle school and high school, the order of my room switched between many variations - and paint colors. It was the one aspect of my life I was okay with voluntarily changing, and it was for one reason only - if I didn't like it, I could switch it back exactly to the way it was. No harm done.

Part of me wishes that pieces of life could be as easy as rearranging a room. But that would make life a comfortable thing, and God doesn't exactly call us to live "comfortable" lives. When we get comfortable, we get lazy. When we get lazy, we tend to let sin manifest in our souls. In doing so, we lose focus of what's truly important, and that's keeping our eyes centered on Christ.

I have currently found myself in a season of painful change. Everything I've gotten used to over the past ten months is changing, and, since I got comfortable with my lifestyle, this bump in my routine hurts more than it should. It's not as fun as moving around things in my apartment. I see my life as a hardwood floor, and change as furniture being pushed and shoved around on top of it. Careless mistakes have left ugly scratches in the wood. Sure, it's repairable, but it won't ever be the same.

Certain circumstances and people are brought into our lives when we need them most. It can be hard to watch as you grow in a different direction than something you love. Sometimes when your roots are buried so deep, you have no other option than to trim away the dead branches in order to keep what's living alive - and that's okay. Because, with new seasons comes new life. Not everyone or everything is guaranteed to stay with us in this life, but God will continue to provide us with experiences that will encourage us to grow and learn how to change with the season.

God throws us curveballs for a reason. When He sees us taking our eyes off the ball, He puts a spin on the game, sometimes causing us to react in a frenzied panic while trying to put things back in order. Other times, we just completely miss the pitch and wound up getting blindsided. Change can be ugly.... But it can sometimes be a beautiful thing, too. We have to see beauty in the mess we create. God is sovereign. He is the gamekeeper of our lives, and He controls every move. We have to remember to trust His game plan, even when we can't see it for ourselves. Seasons of panic, pain, change, dread, or whatever they may be will pass.

I've learned the hard way that life isn't like moving furniture in a room. You can't undo what's been done, and you can't take back the things that may have sparked a new season. We can however, keep moving the pieces until they are in a better place. We have to be willing to allow God to redesign our lives for us. Perhaps then the season of painful change becomes one of new beginnings.