Embrace the Change

Change…it’s an inevitable part of life. Sometimes change is good and sometimes not. Sometimes change is expected, and sometimes it comes out of nowhere and seems to knock your world off its axis.

Time is ever changing. Seasons change. The weather changes (sometimes multiple times a day if you’re in Missouri). People change. Prices change. Leadership changes. Fads change. Entertainment changes. People move, change jobs, change partners, and change their minds. Interests change, priorities change, our bodies and our health change…you get the point. Change is everywhere.

Fall is my favorite season of the year. However, it also feels like it’s the time of the year that goes by the quickest. The kids are back in school. All the little league, traveling, and school sports, as well as other extra-curricular activities are in full swing. Clubs resume routine meetings. Fall festivals take place. The major holidays commence. Workloads escalate as organizations strive to meet production goals by the end of the year. It’s just a busy time.

I was listening to the song “Turn! Turn! Turn!” by The Byrds the other day, which led me to think about the changes in my life, both positive and negative, and how God has a purpose for all of it. If you didn’t know, the lyrics of the song are taken almost verbatim from the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible.

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace,” (Eccesiastes 3:1-8).

As the seasons change, so does life in general. I have gone through many changes this year, and I know there are even more to come. Some of those adjustments have been difficult: new routines, new living arrangements, new bills, new stress, buying new things to replace those that were taken, and the worst for me, not having my children with me every day and night.

The latter has been the most challenging because it’s like an undeserved punishment. I don’t feel it’s fair that I must alter my whole life because someone else decided to change. However, c’est la vie! We all know that life is not often fair, but we go on living. We endure by adapting to change, whether voluntary or forced.

Thankfully, the Lord promises to be with us through all changes in life. “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go,” (Joshua 1:9).

Furthermore, for every difficult change, we must remember that there’s a positive one as well. For me those include new adventures, a better atmosphere in the home, less mess to clean up, less trash to take out, less food to buy and fix, new freedoms and independence, doing more with friends, better overall health, picking out new things to fit into a new life season, and more time to devote to me and my interests. Although change can be hard and even scary at times, I’m trying to embrace it all because I have hope that amazing things will come from it.

In fact, the most incredible change in my life was the day I gave it over to Christ. He changed me for the better, and while I still fall short and sin many times a day in multiple ways, I am convicted of that sin, seek out God’s forgiveness, and strive to be a better person and follow Jesus’ example and teachings.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Christ changed me. He can change you too if you want Him to and if you seek Him out.

He will also help you get through the difficult changes in your life if you ask Him to. “The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord,” (Lamentations 3:25-26).

Try to embrace the changes in life, good or bad, and trust that the Lord will help you overcome and emerge stronger and better than you were before.

Reset

As we transition into a new month, we also come to the end of Daylight Savings Time. As with any change, there are positives and negatives to this as well. We lose an hour of daylight, but we gain an hour of sleep.

Just as we turned our clocks back last night (or this morning if you’re like me), sometimes we need a reset in our lives as well. Often there is so much disorder and variation in our day-to-day responsibilities that we need to take a break and start over.

Have you ever been so overwhelmed that you needed to take a few moments alone for some deep breaths or prayer in a quiet place to refocus and calm yourself? I think we all have at various times, and if you’re struggling now with this, Psalm 51:10-13 is a great passage to pray over. “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”

I found myself in need of a reset this past month. That is why I didn’t post on my blog site in October. I had a lot going on, felt in a funk, and was really distracted and tired, trying to keep up with everything on my own. Therefore, I took that time to just focus on rest, on doing things I enjoy, and on letting the Lord take the wheel, as the saying goes.

1 Peter 5:6-7 instructs us to, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” It can be renewing to admit to God that you are tired and need a break, and He won’t fault you for it. Change can be exhausting.

Additionally, on occasion, it may seem as if we come full circle in certain aspects of life, not always intentionally. I’m at such a point in my life.

I was a college student when I had my first child. I raised her as a single mother while continuing to go to school full-time. It wasn’t easy, but I did it, with a lot of prayer and help from some amazing individuals, because that was my responsibility. I was a single mom for almost 2 ½ years before I married.

Currently, I find myself once again raising my children as a single mom. I never thought I would end up back here, but I’m also not particularly worried about it. I did it before at a time when things were much more difficult for me, and I know I can do it again with God’s grace and support from family and friends.

God doesn’t give us any task that He knows we can’t handle. It’s up to us whether we rise to the challenge or lie down and give up. “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess,” (Deuteronomy 30:15-18).

As the days get darker (both literally and figuratively), God wants us to lean on Him so He can help us through the challenging times. If you’re going through a rough season and feel like you’ve lost your way, stop, take some time to reset, and then ask God to lead the way back to where you’re meant to be. “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand,” (Isaiah 41:10).

The Immutable I AM

The song “10k” by Christian rapper KB includes the lyrics, “I got a God, don’t change with the season…ten thou’ reasons I can believe in…”

New season. New month. New time change. New beginnings. We live in a world that is in a constant state of alteration. Every single person, place, and thing in this life changes, apart from one. The only constant amongst the chaos is the Lord our God, the immutable I AM.

God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation,” (Exodus 3:14-15).

I think we sometimes forget this when we get bombarded with turmoil and stuff in general. When things happen that are out of our control, we must remember that they’re not out of God’s reach.

There’s a woman in the Bible who forgot this important truth. In the Bible, she is known only as Job’s wife, and you can read her story in Job 1-2.

Job, and thus Job’s wife, lost everything they had in a short span of time-their children, their home, their servants, their livestock, and all their worldly wealth. Then, to add to the turmoil, Job was afflicted with a disease that caused painful sores all over his body. He suffered so much that, out of anguish, he scraped himself with broken pottery. While Job chose to continue to worship God through his suffering, his wife did not feel the same.

“His wife said to him, ‘Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!’ He replied, ‘You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?’” (Job 2:9-10).

Obviously, this woman was going through a time of intense emotional strife. As one processes grief, anger often arises. Job’s wife was angry at God for allowing the hardships in her life, and she was angry at Job because he continued to turn to God and wasn’t angry himself.

In the last chapter, Job 42, we learn that because of Job’s persistent faith, God eventually blessed him with twice as much as he had before. His wife, however, is not mentioned again.

Being honest, if I lost almost everything that I had in this life, I am almost certain that I would resemble this woman. It is difficult to understand the whys when we’re in the midst of a trial or loss. However, when faced with difficult changes, we can either be like Job’s wife and live in anger, blaming God for our sorrows, or we can grow and learn from our trials like Job and become a better servant for the Lord.

Have you ever faced a situation in which your faith was tested, wondering Where is God? Why is he letting this happen to me? While it’s hard to comprehend at times, we must remember that God is unchanging, and He is in control of every situation. “God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? I have received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I cannot change it, (Numbers 23:19-20).

While it may seem like your circumstances are unjust or that God doesn’t care, He does, and He has a purpose for the pain and the struggles. Just like Job, sometimes we must break to be made whole again. Our trials help to build our faith.

While change is often not easy to accept, try to embrace it anyway because life carries on regardless. Take time to reset when you get overwhelmed and lean on the rock that is God to help you. While we live in an ever-changing world, take comfort that our God, the great I AM remains immutable.

Hebrews 13:8 affirms that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Amen.

Have a blessed week!

-Becky