A friend handed me a comic. The picture included a biblical character tip toeing across a sheet of ice. As I came to the caption, I saw the words, “Peter’s faith grows in the winter.” Those words alluded to the Apostle Peter walking across the water, but I could not help to hear those words for myself.
Over the past weekend, the snow started falling across Upstate New York. Meaning this area will experience a white Christmas and Thanksgiving. Autumn portrays beautiful colors of red, orange, and yellow across the landscape. Yet, within a short few weeks the ground freezes over with a coat of white and no visible sight of leaves.
Faith growing in the winter rarely looks like a tentative walk across the ice. Most often, this growth takes place in the midst of storms and the cold. The winter seasons of our lives may include pain, disappointment, and disillusionment. Seemingly though, the mature saints you meet will point to these seasons as ones where God grew their faith.
Charles Spurgeon comments on 2 Corinthians 12:9, “Strong faith does not drop from heaven in a gentle dew; generally it comes in the whirlwind of the storm.” Why? At least in my life, it seems that God has to bring me back to a sense of dependence on His work and presence in my life. The winter reminds us to trust in the One who can bring the spring. He shapes and forms our live even in the freezing and the cold.
Have you faced a winter season? How did your faith grow?