That’s the way I feel right now. My world is spinning out of control. Not the kind that is unmanageable or sinful, it’s just that change does that. It makes my world spin.
Everyone deals with change. Coping with change is hard.
Your elderly mother is put into a nursing facility, leaving your dad alone at home.
You've just moved to a new city with your family. You're happy for a new job, new opportunity.
Your wife misses her parents and your children are having trouble in their new school.
Maybe it’s a new baby or changing health or a trusted friend is moving away.
Change is inevitable. We can’t avoid it. Some of it is for the good and some of it is not so good. I’m having trouble figuring out if I like change.
My kids are getting older and they have their own lives. They have their own minds. Their own dreams. I’m not so sure I like that.
People I work and serve with have their own vision of what God is calling them to…and it’s different than my vision for what God is calling them to. Go figure…
Maybe you’re like me and you’re still surprised at how much life changes and how often…and how hard it is. It shouldn’t surprise me, but it still does. And what’s weird is how much it hurts sometimes. I think it’s because you get comfortable. Maybe it’s because you think you’re through something or over something and it’s going to finally get easy for a minute.
But it never does because life is always change.
I’ve been told a time or two when things weren’t going my way to ‘just to deal with it.’ That’s tough for me. I want to control things. Honestly, not sure if this is wrong to say, but I want things to go my way and sometimes it makes me mad when they don't and sometimes it makes me sad.
I don’t want to say it, but what I’m dealing with right now is just making me sad. Really sad.
But God is teaching me a few things. Things that I probably should have learned before I was 46 years old, but I’m finally learning them now whether I like it or not.
CHANGE IS A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE.
You have to keep CHANGE in PERSPECTIVE.
There is an ebb and flow to life that brings natural changes with it - I have to remember this. It was King Solomon that said there was a "time" for everything under the sun. In other words…everything changes. (I think somebody wrote a song about that once…) In his book called Ecclesiastes (Ch. 3), Solomon talks about the seasons and changes of life.
Birth and Death. Beginnings and Endings. War and Peace. Searching and Giving Up. Building and Tearing Down.
This is all change, and coping with life changes is never easy. We get nervous and depressed because we think the change we face will change everything, when in reality only a part of our lives will be different.
We think the change is too fast, when the real problem is that maybe we're just slow in accepting the inevitable. Or we think the change is for the worse when we have no idea of what good might be just around the corner.
I heard a college professor once say, ‘Change is less unsettling when we can see the big picture and not just the small universe of our own lives.’
My aunt gave me a picture to hang on my wall when I was just a kid. I looked at it every night. It wasn’t really a picture. It was just a bible verse hand-painted on a little canvas type of thing. To be honest, it wasn’t really nice and looked kind of cheap. But I think it changed my life. Or at least shaped my life. It read:
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." - Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV
Most changes work out in the long run. Well, they don’t just work out. God has a way of working in our changes if we trust Him. I need to remember that.
It's easy to believe this while times are stable and predictable. It's when we find ourselves in the eye of the storm that this promise is difficult to believe. But think of it, is anything too difficult for God? Do changes confuse God or make it any more difficult for Him to care for us?
But He said, I will never leave you or forsake you. That’s what Jesus told me. And He tells you this too. Keeping this in mind changes the change. It makes change a little more bearable. It lowers the fear and panic that comes with change.
I don’t know what’s come your way but it’s probably been no easier than what’s come my way. Maybe you’ve heard the word CANCER spoken to you. Or maybe the phrase, ‘We’re eliminating your position.’ Or maybe it’s a friend that seems to be moving out of your life or wife or a husband that’s leaving for good. Maybe a dream is just slowly fading away.
Maybe you’ve got happy change going on. If that’s you, honestly, I’m happy for you. But maybe you’ve got the kind of sad change coming. Can I just tell you that I feel for you. I break with you. I get it because this is where I’m at right now. I’m worried and not liking some things that I don’t think I can stop even if I try.
But let me just speak a word to you. One word…
TRUST.
Trust God. Trust His goodness. Trust His Word. Trust His Spirit and leadership and comfort. Trust Him and He will make your path straight.
I love that! TRUST GOD and HE’LL STRAIGHTEN OUT THE MESS. He’ll make your path straight.
Different people react to "change" in different ways. So here it is for me…
Accept the fact that changes in life are natural and inevitable. Don't be surprised or hurt or panicked because change is normal.
Try to keep the changes in your life in proper perspective. Don't overreact or overestimate the impact of changes you face.
Put your trust in God. God is aware of every change and circumstance, we need to trust Him with the outcome of the changes in our lives.
Whatever we need, He will provide. Whatever we lose, He will restore in His own way. Of course there is one final change we all should look forward to as Christians and that is the change we will undergo when Jesus returns.
"Our mortal bodies will be transformed (changed) into glorious ones in order to dwell in heaven with God forever."(no more change!) - 1 Thess. 4:17
I’m trying to trust Him. Pray for me and I’ll pray for you.
Until ALL Hear,
Pastor Jeremy