Mastering the Winter Seasons of Life: Navigating, Surviving, and Thriving

Recently, a prayer request was shared for a loved one struggling with depression whose condition has worsened. Another individual informed me that despite taking appropriate measures to address burnout, the situation has not improved. Having personally experienced both depression (from which I recovered a few years ago) and ongoing burnout issues, I can relate to their struggles.

I know that both are complex mental health issues and there is no one, fix-it-all cure. However, I can share what helped me.  These things helped me to navigate winter seasons in life. I know that many that will read this article do not suffer from depression or burnout. If this is you, even you can find this blog post helpful, making sure you work on prevention of depression and burnout. You can cultivate a mindset that prevents giving space to burnout or depression. Before I share what I believe are helpful tools, let me share what I mean by a “winter season” in life and ministry. 

Winter, spiritually, refers to a season of various difficulties, such as a strong wind of opposition in whatever is meant to be accomplished. It is a season of attaining skills how to remove hindrances on a maturing journey; recognizing various roadblock signs pointing to a need to take a different direction in life and ministry than originally planned. During winters there are also some storms of negative emotions causing confusion and lack of direction in life. 

Winter seasons are in our lives for a reason, they reveal that there are areas in life that host ‘frozen memories’ in need of inner healing. In order to navigate a winter season well, there needs to be a compass keeping course to North, where the harsh conditions are. There are stored painful memories revealing deep wounds. This is where triggers unleash all sorts of negative emotions and we end up in a confusion and storms of negative feelings. This is where pain, offence, anger, revenge… are stored. 

In order to either deal with burnout, depression, or simply cultivate a mindset that prevents both, there needs to be willingness to open up a heart and receive healing. I’ve learned both from my own experience and helping others deal with their pain, that willingness to open old wounds is not enough. In order to receive healing, we also need to be willing to forgive and let go of whatever we feel other people owed us. 

Forgiveness is a gift. We give it to people that do not deserve our gift, but we decide to do it anyway. When we extend the gift of forgiveness, we do not justify the wrong things that were done to us. We allow God, and if applicable, the law to deal with the wrong things that were done. We simply open up a cage in our heart where we held another person as our prisoner of hate. Sometimes we discover that another person in cage was a wounded self, along with someone else. Sometimes we need to forgive ourselves too.  

In the beginning of a new winter season in a life and personal maturing journey, I would like to invite you to start writing a healing journal. You can journal unfrozen memories and deep wounds that get revealed in life winter seasons. As you write about all the stored memories and emotions, decide to let go and forgive. Invite Jesus wherever He is knocking on your heart of concield deep wounds. 

So, when you face next wind of opposition, harsh weather conditions, road-block signs… do not get scared. They are there to help you navigate another winter season. Take your compass, Bible, from your pocket and start asking Holy Spirit to point you to North, where harsh conditions in your heart are. Face the wind of opposition trying to prevent you from receiving inner healing. 

“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” - Matthew 6:14-15

“Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times” - Matthew 18:21-22