Ecclesiastes 3:1 “To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.

Psalm 30:5 “Sorrow may last for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”

Fall offers so much to look forward to: from bonfires and pumpkin patches to football games and hikes with colorful leaves under foot. For all of it I crave the cool weather that makes the fall moments complete! Each year as the season approaches I do the “fall things.” I put the pumpkins on the porch, pot the mums, don the door with the fall wreath, and buy cider; but none of it can force the fall weather. My putting on a sweater sadly doesn’t mean I’ll need it as much as I may want to! We simply can not force a change in the weather. It will surely come, we never know for how long, but eventually it does arrive.

I was sick recently. It was nothing serious, but it kept me from living life as normal and doing things that I enjoy. I kept willing myself to be better. I did all the right things and extra things too. I took vitamins, rested, and did home remedies. I knew I would feel better eventually, but the healing came later than I wanted. I missed a few special happenings and some events are still postponed. I was so thankful for the day I woke up and realized I was better! Even though doing the right things didn’t bring the healing when I wanted, it was still vital that I did them. I recently had a conversation with a friend who suffered the loss of a child. We talked about grief and the important things she’s had to do while she’s waiting on healing. They are the right things. They don’t guarantee immediate healing, but they insure that one day it will come.

– She said it was important for her to recognize that “it’s okay to not be okay.” I think this speaks to accepting the current situation; how painful, grave, and disappointing it is, and that you will not be okay for some time.

– She said she let herself feel what she was feeling. If she was overcome with sadness, she let herself cry. I it was anger, she let herself be angry. She had to allow herself to be happy too! She recognized that she could have sorrow and joy at the same time and she’d let herself laugh. She said something so powerful; that she was “walking through the valley of the shadow of death.” She knew she had to keep walking. To feel how she was feeling, and walk with those feelings.

– She said she had to let others love her! She said she was tempted to withdraw from community because no one knew what she was really going through. Isolation can look attractive when we are hurting, but it can be so helpful to surround ourselves with a caring community. A hug, a meal, or help with housework support us and let us know we are not alone.

– She said she had to control her thoughts. When thoughts turned to blame, doubt, and hopelessness; she disciplined  herself to think about things that were true. She repeated that God is good, that He still had a good plan for her, that He would never leave her, and that He would comfort her.

– And when I asked my friend to share a scripture that has helped her along the way, she gave me 2 Corinthians 1:4-5 “He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.” She has found purpose in her trouble through comforting others with the same comfort she has been given.

Healing is a gift. It will surely come like the eventual, gentle turn of the fall weather. Keep doing the right things and the miracle of change and healing will happen.

Ruth Woodson