¶ Welcome to Your 5-Minute Encouragement
This is your encouraging five-minute podcast . Over the next five minutes here to encourage you , to inspire you to hopefully lift your day . If you need more encouragement at the end of it , oh , you can always listen again . Yes you can or you can tune in to WPER that's Virginia's home for encouragement , if you need to .
You can download the app and listen anytime . Oh , absolutely , wperorg , you can
¶ Spring's Arrival and Soul Renewal
start there .
Can you feel that the air is shifting , the sun is shining a little longer and the earth is waking up again ? It's springtime . You got to love it , yes , and there is something about spring that makes it I don't know just feels joyful , right . I mean , after months of cold and snow and bare trees and gray skies , like suddenly life returns .
The flowers and trees are in bloom , the birds are singing , the world just feels new again . Maybe , just maybe , your soul is longing for that kind of newness also .
Maybe you've been in a long winter , not just in the weather , but in your soul also . Maybe you've been in a long winter not just in the weather , but in your soul . Maybe joy feels distant , like something meant for other people but not for you . Well , if that's where you are today , we want to remind you of something beautiful Joy is not lost .
And more than
¶ Denise's Winter Season Story
that joy is found in Jesus . So our friend Denise went through one of the hardest seasons of her life . This was last year . She called it her winter , the winter season , long season of loss , discouragement and just going through the motions . One day she said I don't even remember what real joy feels like .
That's so hard . I know , eric , and I have felt that way . Have you ever felt that way ?
So one afternoon she's walking through her neighborhood , still carrying the weight of everything she'd been through in that hard winter season . And that's when she saw it , A tiny bud pushing up through the frozen ground . Love it . Something about that moment stopped her in her tracks .
It would me too right , Because if a flower could push through winter's harsh cold and bloom again , then maybe she could too .
You know , honestly , that's the thing about joy . It's not always big and loud like fireworks , right ? Sometimes it starts as a whisper , a small sign of life
¶ Joy Found in Jesus
pushing through . It's a reminder that winter does not last forever , and neither does sorrow .
Psalm 30 , verse 5 , says weeping may last for a night , but joy comes in the morning . Spring is proof of that promise . The world goes through seasons of cold , of complete barrenness , but new life always appears .
Yeah , and that's what Jesus does in our hearts too , because the world tells us that joy is found in success , right In these perfect looking circumstances and everything going our way .
But the truth , real joy , isn't about what's happening around us , it's about who is in us , and Jesus said in John 15 , 11 , I've told you these things so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete .
Complete , that's whole , not dependent on other circumstances or our circumstances .
If your heart has been in a long winter , can we encourage you ? Spring is coming .
Not just in the world around you , but deep in your soul .
Because Jesus makes all things new , just like he's promised us .
When we look for our joy in him not in what we have , not in what we've lost , but in him we find a joy that nothing in this world can take away .
Absolutely so today
¶ Prayer and Closing Encouragement
. Take a deep breath , step outside , feel the sun on your skin , look for those little , tiny signs of new life popping up out of the ground and , most of all , remind your heart of this . Joy isn't something you have to chase . Joy is something Jesus freely gives . Let's pray about it .
Jesus , thank you for the gift of joy , for the promise that no season lasts forever and that you're always working , even in the waiting . For the promise that no season lasts forever and that you're always working even in the waiting For the one who feels stuck in winter .
We pray that you breathe new life into their heart today , fill them with your joy , the kind that lasts , the kind that's only found in you , In Jesus's name amen .
Friend , you are seen , you are loved , and no matter what season you're in in this moment joy is coming .
Thank you for letting us spend a little time with you today . If this encouraged you , would you share it with a friend who might need a reminder that joy is coming Because Jesus is already holding it out to us .
And if this encouraged you and you'd like to hear more , you can always listen to WPER , Virginia's home for encouragement . But if you're not in the listening area , you can download the WPER app at WPERorg or just tell your smart speaker to play WPER radio .