Spring is for planting. Summer is for growing. Fall is for harvesting. Winter is letting the ground lay fallow.

Each of these seasons have their purpose. We don’t always like the season we’re in. Sometimes we’d rather be harvesting than planting. Winter may seem boring except that we get to rest and plan for the next cycle of seasons. So it is with the prophetic.

The Lord has us in a season for a purpose, even if we don’t like the season we’re in, or even less, understand the season we’re in.

We pursue the Lord and the prophetic differently in different seasons. Sometimes we wait on Him. Sometimes He asks us to take a risk and step out. Sometimes we’re in a season of learning and growing.

When I was first told that I was prophetic and didn’t even know what that meant, I tried to get hold of everything that could teach me about the prophetic. Then there was a period (12 or more years) where the Lord was asking me to step out more and more.

Finally, the Lord uprooted me and put me in an accelerated growth environment, a greenhouse of sorts. I didn’t ask to go there. It’s a door He opened up to me because life’s circumstances and the Lord’s leading in our lives forced us to have to make a choice.

This greenhouse was Bethel. Ten years later I am still here having transitioned from student to teacher. I look back and I can see broad chapters in my life as it relates to pursuing the prophetic.

I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

The Lord has good plans for you. Do not despair if you’re in a season that’s not to your liking. Seasons come and go. Another season will come. Learn to celebrate and value the season you’re in. You’ll enjoy it that much more!

By Ralph Veenstra