​It is the middle of winter now. Many compare this season not only to the elder years of our lives, but also to our final earthly days. Death. Not a topic any of us want to talk about…but it is an unavoidable part of our lives. Covid has brought this into numerous homes as an unexpected purveyor of distress during a time when isolation and quarantine have been thrust upon us. Normal cultural means of dealing with the death of a loved one are disrupted, and a typically stressful situation at best has become a ‘pit of despair’ to those trying to deal with their grief.
The Harvester Chronicles: JP Knights shows us that God offers us hope in the midst of our grief. Many Bible passages speak of the comfort God gives us. I visualize angels hugging those who are crying.
Isaiah 61: 2-4 says … “to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve… to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.” 
If you are grieving, I pray for you to be comforted by the God who loves us. He knows the grief of a Father losing his only Son.  
God has given us the four seasons to give us hope. The world seems to die each winter, but it is only dormant, awaiting the resurgence of life in spring. Right now, while all around us are shades of white, gray and black, the world seems hopeless and dead. But that is not the case. Soon, the snow will melt and the grass will turn green, trees will branch and bud, flowers will bloom. The seasons have shown us that this ‘circle of life’ comes again and again…happening for thousands of years.
While you are grieving, you are in a season of winter. But God promises that life will once again spring forth! It doesn’t come immediately, but it DOES come! Just as spring most assuredly follows the cold and darkness of winter, comfort comes to those who grieve.
We who know the salvation God has offered through the death of His Son, Jesus, also know that death is only a step into glorious eternity with our loving Father. 

January 2022
A new year is here and not much has changed since January 2021 in many ways. Covid is still a significant issue even though there is a vaccine. Many people are isolated, sad and depressed. We have to look to God for His mercy and grace through all life’s happenings.
The people of Israel had some very depressing times in the centuries before Christ. They had turned away from God and His favor had left them. God even told them what would happen through his prophets. They would be invaded and conquered, with many of them taken to Babylon in exile.
These were trying times for ‘God’s people’. But, in the midst of it all, God sent His prophets to encourage His people.
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14.
We have just come through the Christmas celebration and heard the story of Jesus’s birth. It is so reassuring that God gives us hope, not only in our Savior’s birth and life, but in telling us long beforehand that He would be providing this means of restoration for the world.
This hope can bring us through the trials of life.
The Joel Prophecy: “And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.” Joel 2:28-29.
So, take hold of the hope God has given us through His son, Jesus, and through the prophesies given in scripture.
Titus 2:13-14 “Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.”
Encourage one another with these words!