The Transition to Fall...

How Happy Valley, Pennsylvania is different than the Southwest..

1. ·        Hobby Lobby is a luxury store that people here dream of. The nearest one is west of the Mississippi… this is a hard loss for me.
2. ·        An even harder loss is the absence of Diet Dr. Pepper. Thanks to the God-fearing people of Chick-fil-a, I have found the one fountain diet DP in the city.
3. ·        The most difficult thing I have to live without is Sonic… the nearest one is an hour and a half away. 
4. ·        An umbrella is a dome-shaped object designed to be held open over your head to keep you dry when it rains. I bought one. I use it at least twice a week.
5. ·        On the back of the menu at the one and only “Mexican” restaurant here, there is a pronunciation key. En-chee-la-da…
6. ·        There are actually four seasons in Pennsylvania. We are entering into one called fall… the leaves on the trees turn amazing colors of red, yellow and orange before they fall off and decorate the green grass like confetti. 

 Just thought I would let you know a few of the differences that span 2,000 miles! 

Now for what I am learning this week:

I am blown away by what God can do with us in the height of our pain and brokenness. Over 500 of you read my blog last week – I was speechless - Thank you for sharing it with others! Never did I intend for so many people to be interested in the goings-on of Heather Bullock. I have had multiple emails this week from girls who don’t feel “good enough,” girls who have had a similar situation happen to them asking how will life ever go on… I have been able to correspond with girls in the US, Canada and Europe about the hope of the Lord’s promises.

 

I did a photo shoot for the cover of a new book. Next week I along with a few other young women will be appearing in a high-profile television interview with Dannah. God is moving and doing amazing things, right? Yet, why do I still cry myself to sleep? Why is the pain in my heart as raw as it was six months ago?

My southwestern friends, I wish you could see the trees here. Pictures don’t begin to do the beauty justice. Earlier this week, I sent my mom a photo of the red and orange tree outside of my office window. (This following a particularly emotional conversation in which I expressed my frustration about the lingering love I still possess for the man I once knew.)

I think she hit the nail on the head; she replied, “Just like that tree, your love is turning and the leaves will fall off. Winter and it’s cold will come, but if you hang on and resist disease, spring will return. Even now, new sap is forming in you that will enable this process to happen… How much longer will you long for the past, Heather B.? What would God be able to unleash in your life if you would completely let go? Spring and its new life is coming, don’t give up, and don't hang on to dead leaves”

Six years is an incredibly long time to be devoted, committed and in love. He might have been able to easily say, “I haven’t loved you for a year,” but, I am not able to comprehend that. I don’t think it’s possible to fall out of love; God is love. Falling out of love is falling out of God. (In my mind at least!) My "letting go of love" has been and will continue to be a slow process. Each leaf, each memory, will slowly begin to change color and gracefully and beautifully fall to the earth.

Thank goodness not all the leaves fall in one day! Who would want to rake that? Little by little, God is replacing the love I have for that young man with a love for girls who have been betrayed, those who are broken, the precious girls who don’t feel “good enough.” My heart is in transition – just like the seasons.

But, spring is coming and I can hardly wait to see what new life comes forth! 

Where are you in the spectrum of seasons? Are you experiencing the blessing of new life that is spring; the consistency and heat of summer; the transition and chill of fall; a desolate and dormant winter? Each season is necessary... some just happen to be more pleasant than others. 

Each and every year, we are able to witness a miracle - a "dead" tree in January comes back to life again in April. Why do we doubt that God is able to do that with the seasons in our life? I promise, I am preaching to myself here as well. I am experiencing a season of bone-chilling transition and "loss." I have wondered what new life could ever spring forth from this.... but every year, He remains faithful. 

Embrace your season, whatever it may be. The Lord is faithful... Once again friend, the joys and squeals of summer will come. Don't rush past the beauty in the changing trees and falling leaves. You won't pass this way again for a while. Transition is necessary for something to become gloriously beautiful.