5 Tips for Navigating a New Season of Life
Right now, we are starting to really enter the fall season. The leaves are beginning to change up north and hopefully down here in Florida we will start feeling the cooler weather as well!
Perhaps you have found yourself in a change of season in a different sense. Maybe you recently started a new job or are adjusting to a new school or community at your college. Maybe you have recently gotten married or had a child. Maybe you moved to a new city or are navigating new friendships.
Maybe nothing in your life has changed recently, but you know it’s time for a change.
Whatever situation you find yourself in, here are some tips to help you move forward into all God has for you.
1. Recognize Your Change of Season
I recently went to my high school’s alumni night. Having graduated almost 5 years ago now, it dawned on me: “Oh, I’m not in high school anymore!” I suddenly realized how much has changed, and how much I have changed. I needed the past few years to help me see a future greater than my past.
I had a wonderful time in high school and experienced so much growth with the Lord, but my past season is not the end of my journey.
And it’s not the end of yours.
Life is full of different seasons, and they all have purpose.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us,
To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven.
I saw this quote once and I never forgot it: “Winter, spring, summer, fall. He is faithful through it all.”
He is with you as you go into this next season. Take His hand and let Him lead.
2. Focus on the Future
If you know you’re transitioning into a new season because of circumstantial change or even a sudden realization that you need a change, it’s helpful to look forward and focus on the future.
Our past season may have been great, and we might not know how to move forward into something much greater that God has for us.
On the other hand, our past season might have been horrible due to trials and negative circumstances, so we don’t know how to get unstuck from a rut of depression or trauma. I’ve been there.
Since my time in high school, I’ve definitely experienced a few years of a hard season, so I know what it’s like to feel like it’s safer to go back to the past when times were great than it is to dream of a brighter future than what was left behind.
But the Lord has been teaching me that hard seasons are preparation for greater things to come in the future. We can’t move forward into the next phase of our calling and destiny until we untether from the past.
We can’t make a change in our life until we decide to, in spite of our weaknesses or past mistakes.
Proverbs 29:18 shows us that when we don’t have a vision for the future, we perish. The Hebrew word for vision here speaks of a literal vision, dream or revelation God has given us.
Keeping the vision before us is what helps us move in that direction. This is especially important after a hard winter season.
It’s like what the Beloved (representing Christ) tells the bride (representing us) in Song of Solomon 2: 10-12,
My beloved spoke, and said to me: “Rise up, my love, my fair one, And come away. For lo, the winter is past, The rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; The time of singing has come…
Can you hear Him inviting you into a new beginning?
3. Take Action to Move Forward
We need God’s direction when moving forward, so I suggest taking these steps:
Ask God in prayer what He wants you to do now
Ask God to give you specific scripture promises for your life
Speak these promises out of your mouth consistently even if you don’t see anything happening
Write down the promises and new direction God is showing you and review it often
Evaluate in partnership with the Holy Spirit what needs to change in your life to make room for the new beginning, and take action accordingly
We can’t stay stuck in the past when God says it’s time to move on.
Remember His words in Isaiah 43:19,
Behold, I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert.
4. Keep Eternity in View
Having a mind fixed on Heaven anchors us through the many seasons of life. Knowing that we have a purpose motivates us to move forward.
My favorite scripture regarding life purpose is Psalm 139:16,
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.
God has a plan for your life. A specific plan just for you.
But it’s up to you (and me) to discover what that plan is through intentionally seeking Him. We have to ask, seek and not give up.
Not only is this an encouraging truth that we each have a specific purpose, calling and destiny, but it’s a serious and sobering one as well.
We are accountable for how we spend this short life on earth. We will each have to stand before the Lord at the judgment seat of Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:9-10 says,
Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
Jesus gave us many parables about the rewards or losses we will experience for serving Him depending on what kind of servant we are (see Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 12:42-48).
The Holy Spirit through Paul expanded upon this concept in 1 Corinthians 3:11-15,
For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
Our calling from the Lord is serious and we are each accountable for what we do and how we do it. This truth helps us persevere through trials, knowing we are entrusted with a weighty responsibility and a serious heavenly calling.
This doesn’t mean we need to get involved in as many ministry activities as possible to be a good servant. Jesus is our example, and He only did things and went places that the Father told Him. Often, He would retreat from the crowds to have private prayer time, which is where I believe He received the instructions for what to do next.
Our calling flows from relationship and obedience.
As we hear Him, we do what He wants, and we can ask Him how He wants it done and when.
I’m a firm believer that if you ask the right questions, you will receive the right answers. If we ask Him to show us where we need to change, He will. We just need a heart of humility to ask and not assume everything we are doing is according to His will.
If you don’t have an instruction from the Lord yet, don’t worry! Start by seeking Him consistently and living out the principles in His Word (walking in forgiveness, loving others, prayer, worship, godly relationships, etc.). I promise you He will be faithful to share with you His promises and will for your life!
It might take some time, but don’t give up!
5. Trust God in Every Season
One final major key for navigating the seasons of life is trusting God.
This is often easier said than done when life is rough and you’re on the floor in a puddle of tears (I’ve been there many times!), but trust keeps us stable when circumstances are not.
Trusting God gives us the supernatural ability to remain constant through the twists and turns of life.
Check out these amazing benefits of trusting in the Lord from Jeremiah 17:7-8,
Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, And whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.
Those are amazing promises of flourishing, peace and prosperity.
Look at that last part again. We will NEVER cease to bear fruit when we trust God.
Why? Because we are abiding in Christ. Without Him we can do nothing, but in Him we can bear good fruit in every season. Fruit that will last into eternity.
Jesus tells us in John 15:5,
I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
Your life can be supernaturally fruitful in your darkest winter because you trust Him. You can still bear the fruits of the Spirit in your most broken state.
Christ’s love for us was shown best during His many sufferings at His arrest and crucifixion. His death and subsequent resurrection were the greatest accomplishment in history, but it didn’t feel good at all.
I pray these tips encourage and empower you forward as you navigate the many seasons of life!