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SEPTEMBER 15, 2015
Unwanted Change in Your Life |
"The LORD had said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you …’ So Abram went, as the LORD had told him." Genesis 12:1-2a, 4a (NIV)
I stand in the kitchen, lost in the rhythm of dinner preparation, while singing with a tune sauntering from the radio. Suddenly, an offbeat percussion noise invades my peaceful space as it bounces around the house. I quickly move to the window to see if it’s what I think it is. Sure enough, nickel-sized hail pings everything, like a drumbeat set to the tune of destruction.
I fly out the door to bring my potted plants toward protection. But it’s not ‘til the storm leaves and the hail melts that I see the full extent of the damage.
Flourishing flowerbeds have been reduced to flower shrapnel. The potted arrangements fared better because I brought them in mid-storm, but many petunia and geranium stems stand stark naked, their foliage in limp piles on the Miracle-Gro dirt.
Commence yours truly throwing a fit big enough to make any toddler proud. I stomp my feet and shout, "It’ll take a miracle to get these flowers back to the way they were!"
This is one change I could do without.
If you’re like me and have spent much of life viewing unwanted change with crossed arms and stomping feet, you might see it like a devastating hailstorm. Just when your life is settled and moving along well, something comes along and damages much that is beautiful within it.
The man who was supposed to stay, left.
The place that was "home," is no longer your address.
The boss you showed your best work to, showed you the door.
A monumental moment fell into your life, and it stands like a stone in your pathway blocking your contentment. Within the darkness of your fears, you think, "It’ll take a miracle to get things back to the way they were."
As a longtime Air Force wife, my life played to the soundtrack of change. Just when I got used to something — our location, local friends, my husband’s schedule — things would be shaken and rearranged, and I’d have to get used to something different. I spent years fighting this reality until one day I felt the Lord ask me to change my prayers from God, remove this change from my life to a new perspective:God, remove my attitude toward this change.
Sometimes, a girl has to find a new song to sing. I needed new lyrics to redirect my attention from my fears to the faithful promises of God, like the one found in Genesis.
In Genesis 12, when God asks Abram to leave his home for a new, unfamiliar land, He gave Abram a promise to hold onto during the weary transition. A promise to bless Abram through the change. And you know what? God does the same for you and me as He did for Abram.
If God is sending you to a new place, He’s sending you with a promise of blessing.
Perhaps the best thing you and I can do is, like Abram, obey God by leaning into the change rather than fighting it.
Whether you experience transition under your feet, in your heart, or both, the Lord is using it for you, not against you. He is bringing you to a new place for the purpose of blessing you. We can trust change is not a life hindrance, but a life occurrence acting as a stepping-stone toward God’s best for us.
It’s more than OK to mourn the loss change brings. But as we do, may we also remember that change is not the end. A new song, sung to the tune of God’s promises and to the steady rhythm of His grace, is the blessing to find as a result.
Dear Father, thank You that while unwanted change is a surprise to me, it’s not a surprise to You. Thank You for being my safe place where I can share my fears about this change. Help me to believe that if You’re allowing something I never fathomed into my life, it’s because You’re working something unfathomably good for me through it. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
TRUTH FOR TODAY:
Romans 9:33, "God warned them of this in the Scriptures when he said, ‘I am placing a stone in Jerusalem that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall. But anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.’" (NLT)
Galatians 3:29, "And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you." (NLT)
RELATED RESOURCES:
Read the rest of Kristen Strong’s change story as well as the stories of others in her hope-filled book Girl Meets Change: Truths to Carry You Through Life’s Transitions.
Find more everyday encouragement and downloadable freebies when you stop by Kristen’s blog, Chasing Blue Skies.
Enter to WIN a copy of Girl Meets Change by Kristen Strong. In celebration of this book, Kristen’s publisher is giving away 10 copies! Enter to win by leaving a comment here, letting us know why you’d like a copy for yourself OR whom you would give the book to, if you won. {We’ll randomly select 10 winners and email notifications to each one by Monday, September 21.}
REFLECT AND RESPOND:
What changes are you fearful about today? What is one way you can lean into the change in your own life?
© 2015 by Kristen Strong. All rights reserved.
Proverbs 31 Ministries thanks Revell Publishers for their sponsorship of today’s devotion.
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Proverbs 31 Ministries
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Matthews, NC 28105
www.Proverbs31.org
Originally published Tuesday, 15 September 2015.
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