Seasons
(Romans 12:18 NASB) If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.
Seasons
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 NLT) For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up. A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away. A time to search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away. A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace.
✓
Discovery
(Ecclesiastes 3:6a NLT) A time to search and a time to quit searching.
✓
Honeymoon
(Ecclesiastes 3:4 NLT) A time to laugh.
✓
Reality
(Ecclesiastes 3:6b NLT) A time to keep or a time to throw away.
✓
Maturity
(Ecclesiastes 3:7-8 NLT) A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace.
Shifts
1.
Shift from using the negatives in your relationship as leverage.
(Ephesians 4:26-27 ESV) Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.
(Ephesians 4:20-23 NLT) But that isn’t what you learned about Christ. Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.
2.
Shift the source of your validation from your relationship to God.
(Psalms 42:1-4 NIV) As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the Mighty One with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng.
(Ephesians 2:3 NIV) All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
(Ephesians 2:4-5 ESV) But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.