Hi, friends!

Had your fill of snow shovels, storm clouds, and sweatshirts? Ready to break out the short sleeves? Yup, if you’re anything like me, then each year you eagerly await the warmth of Spring with its promise of new beginnings.

Wouldn’t it be nice to fast forward through Winter and simply tiptoe your way through the tulips? But like your sleeping lawn and flower bed, so winter seasons are necessary to our spiritual growth too.

That’s why I'd like to tell you about a lovely lady named Rose.

The journey to building our Chapel has been both joyful and painful, amazing and frustrating. Along the journey, I've communicated with lots of folks, including Rose.

Ever since she was a little girl Rose loved fashion. All the ruffles, beads, and beautiful fabrics made her happy! She pursued fashion design and apparel management in college. After graduating she launched a mobile Fashion truck selling clothing and accessories from New York City.

Although the Fashion truck is long gone, today Rose remains a gifted designer, seamstress, and small business owner specializing in unique and elegant home accents. From a child, God created Rose to love beauty and express His beauty to the world.

But like all roses, this particular Rose has many layered petals. Her story also reveals a painful and thorny side…

Sadly, Rose also became a domestic violence victim. While on a long road to recovery, her talents were put on a shelf to collect dust. But Rose has now decided to take her talents off the shelf, dust them off, and use them to help other women find hope and healing in Jesus.

She's suffered multiple losses and heartaches which shook her confidence and left her feeling like she's made too many mistakes to be effective. She's timid, shy, and rather fearful of new opportunities. But the amazing thing about Rose is that she still moves forward trusting the Lord to supply all that she lacks.

In addition to running her business, Rose is nearly finished earning her Master's Degree in Biblical Counseling. And she has a passion to teach other women to sew and craft beautiful things.

Why am I telling you about Rose?

Because a rose is still a rose…even in winter.

Because God doesn't call the qualified; He qualifies the called.

Because it occurred to me that there's a little bit of Rose in us all.
Disappointments. Set backs. Shattered dreams. And mistakes we wish we could undo.

Perhaps you're not a victim of physical abuse. Maybe your wounds are invisible bruises on the inside seen and felt by you alone. Feeling insecure, ineffective, and even unlovable. Emotional handicaps.

If you can relate, then I'd love to offer you hope today...

I may not comprehend all the pain you've endured. Or your hardships and heartaches along the way. But did you know you have a Savior who not only knows about your pain, but He actually feels your pain?

Hebrews 4:15 tells us: “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

This is a powerful statement in the original Greek. “Feeling” means to experience pain jointly and to suffer with.

It’s one thing to be aware of someone’s pain; it’s quite another to feel their pain. How wonderful to know your Savior is not an unfeeling or distant deity. He does not simply possess knowledge about your troubles or watch you struggle from afar. No, he actually enters into your pain. And He is moved to action with compassion for you. He was battered and bruised on the Cross for your healing and wholeness.

Beloved, no matter your past, your Heavenly Father clearly sees the beauty and grace YOU possess today. And He longs to showcase Christ’s beauty through you to a hurting world.

Here's food for thought...

Ever consider the possibility that your enemy also sees the gemstones of heaven deposited in you? Even if you can’t see them? No matter how deeply the bitter snows have avalanched your dreams, like precious seeds they remain alive awaiting their springtime reveal.

Our adversary targets those who possess uncommon grace and a willing heart. He launches his most vicious, vile, and malicious attacks to crush tender spirits.

Why? To prevent the Spring from awakening deep-sleeping seeds of greatness in your life. To hold you back from your destiny because of your true worth and amazing potential in Christ. If our enemy can blind us to who we are, and Whose we are, then he has won.

But the beautiful truth is that no matter what you may have lost along the way, God promises to restore double... double in quantity and double in quality. I love these promises from God's Word...

Isaiah 61:7- "Instead of your shame you will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace you will rejoice in your inheritance. And so you will inherit a double portion in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours."

Isaiah 42:3 - "He will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle. He will bring justice to all who have been wronged."

In closing, like our modern Rose, there's another beautiful woman whose ancient story is recorded in all four Gospels. Actually, it's believed by Bible scholars that this particular event in the life of Jesus happened more than once and it documents the actions of two entirely different women. But we'll focus on one account here...

The woman with the alabaster box. She suffered a marred past. Scarred by life. But when she encountered Jesus, her mess became her message.

She offered Him the only thing she possessed of any earthly value, her alabaster box. She shattered that box and lovingly poured forth its costly perfume upon the only One who could heal and restore her. The crushed alabaster box was her defining moment and her love for Jesus memorialized her story forever.

Beloved, our own broken dreams and shattered plans become the seeds of much greater things when we release them into His hands. Letting go of everything that holds us captive, as well as everything that we hold dear.

Many winters ago, the Lord sweetly whispered something to me that is forever etched upon my heart:

“The seed that dies in the Winter, comes up in the Spring, and bears fruit in the Fall. It may not come up in the form which you expect it to; nevertheless, it shall come up.”

Those powerful words have sustained and given me hope through many winter seasons. Spring is coming!

Finally, I'm reminded of an exquisite and costly perfume which I simply adore. It's imported from France and meticulously crafted with a fusion of roses including the 100-petaled Rose Centifolia, hand-picked in Grasse, France, which is the capital of perfumery since the 16th century.

What's the point?

During the intricate process, rose petals must be crushed repeatedly in order to intensify the scent of the precious perfume.

Dear friend, whatever happened to you may not have been good. But He promises to work it together for good in your life. Good things... bad things... all things. (Romans 8:28).

To bring beauty out of brokenness. The fragile crushed rose comes alive again and becomes an exquisite eternal beauty in His hand.

I'm not a Bette Midler fan. But there's a line from her beautiful song, "The Rose", that has stuck with me for life...

"Just remember in the winter
Far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed that with the sun's love
In the Spring becomes the rose."

YOU…yes, you... have so much beauty to offer this world. Keep blooming brightly for Him. Because a rose is still a rose, even in Winter.

Pastor Sharon