A prayer for when it feels like winter will never end, written by Gregory Coles and read

by Kelly Gibbons.

There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens, Ecclesiastes

3-1.

Dear God, why is it so hard for me to believe that spring is coming?

It's silly to doubt it, I know.

In all my years watching the seasons pass, spring has never once failed me, no matter how

tardy it may seem.

The sun always comes home from a long vacation to melt the four-learn snow.

The grass emerges a little brown at first, then verdant and full of life.

The birds return, making nests, whistling solos into a warm blue sky.

No matter how long it takes, winter always comes to an end.

But even though I know it's true, even though I've witnessed it year after year, I'm struggling

to believe in spring right now.

The world has been gray for so long that I barely remember what it looks like in color.

My memories of brighter days have frozen over in the cold, dangling like Eccles just

out of reach.

Hope is hard to hold onto with frostbitten fingers.

Why is it so hard for me to trust that you'll keep your promises?

My winter time to spare is about far more than winter itself.

It's the same doubt that overtakes me in every season of difficulty, every setback in

sorrow.

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