Change Brings Change

I’ve unpacked the last box from my recent move.  No one likes to pack up life and make it fit within new walls.  Unless you have an army to help.  And I did.

I’m grateful for family and friends to come alongside (and stay alongside) during another season of transition.  A huge piece of this is a few who helped were those who helped our family move from a farmhouse to a home we built along with our Bible study nearly forty years ago.  True story. That’s friendship. That’s the Body of Christ.  Lovely humans who were there even then . . . and still.  These people have been like Jesus to me through the deep and the steep.

How do we navigate change when we have to lay down the predictable?  There’s a reason God reminds us He works in our weakness. I know a few who feel powerless at the moment going through hard changes, whether it’s in their head, their home, or realizing eternity is the next view.  And those kind of changes don’t only affect the one in that particular space.  It affects their people.

The longer we live the more we’ll endure transition. And sometimes it collides into a time that is challenging to find a way through. There was a time (and times) that was condensed with the loss of my husband, my job, had to relocate, and my church was going through huge changes.  I felt far away from all that I knew. It’s difficult to find a resting place in this mix except in the stillness – except in the Godness.

To every season turn, turn, turn. . . to Him.  We can rest in the truth of an unchanging God when everything around us seems turned inside out.

But there’s flowers.  They always stay faithful to the season.  

And there’s promise and purpose.  So it’s all okay.  For I the Lord do not change . . . Malachi 3:6 

In the middle of the exhaustion we can rest and recharge when we hold on to the constant that remains – we all have different ways in doing that.  For me, one of the last things I pack and first things I unpack is my Bible and journal (oh, and patchouli).  Some may frown on my need for a bottle of essential oil but I’ve been wearing oil since back in the 60s before it was “essential” – it anoints my wrist with peace.  You’re still frowning . . .

So when life slips into the challenge of change, hold tight to the promise of an unchanging Father who watches from beginning to end whether in a new setting, an uncertain diagnosis, a hospital room, or a detour in the road.

If you’re experiencing a life change may you (and may I) focus on the end goal and pray our way there.

Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God.  And the peace of God which surpasses understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus  Philippians 4