Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever ~
Hebrews 13:8
Change – it’s
a part of life.
Sometimes,
change blows in like a much anticipated and welcome breath of fresh air with
which we joyfully fill our lungs. Like oxygen, it is life-giving.
But other
times, change hits us hard and unexpectedly, like a bomb being dropped in the
midst of an unsuspecting people.
It’s
unwelcome, frightening, and often, it can feel chaotic and destructive. And when
it happens, we may do one of two things:
we run from it
or we fight
it
Every day,
each of us comes face-to-face with some kind of change, brought on by our own
or someone else’s choices or decisions. We can run towards that change and embrace it, or we
can run away and hide from it. We can joyfully accept it, or we can fight
against it in anger.
Today, if
you find yourself in the midst of change that you’re unable to accept; that you
didn’t ask for and don’t want; that is cause for fear, dismay or unrest in your
life, may I suggest another option?
Hand it over
to God in prayer, and trust Him for the outcome.
For many, this may seem like the most difficult option of all. Because for those of
us who would rather live with our heads in the sand and not have to deal with the
various changes that confront us, this means even though we may give them to God, we would have to give up pretending they're not there and acknowledge them.
And for
those of us who are ‘control freaks,’ who refuse to hang up our SuperHero capes
and would rather ‘fight than switch,’ as the old cigarette ad used to say,
surrendering the unwelcome changes in our life to God and trusting Him with the
outcome, well….to say that it’s difficult is a huge understatement.
Because we ‘hands
on’ folks NEVER like to be told ‘hands off,’ no matter how many times we may
sing “I Surrender All” in church.
Today, maybe you woke up and your day began innocently enough. You were deaf to the sound of an engine roaring in the distance. You were blind to the shadow hanging over you as you walked out the door or answered the phone. You just went about your business, doing what you normally do, and then
Or even, for
your church.
That actually happened to me this morning. While I won't go into all the gory details, I do want to challenge you, as I am challenging myself, to believe that you are in good
hands.
Because you
are in God’s hands.
Acknowledge
and believe that whatever changes are occurring in your life right now, they
may have surprised you – but they didn’t surprise God.
He knew about
them LONG before you did. He either
purposely orchestrated them, or simply allowed them to take place.
And He has a
plan. Whatever changes
are happening, KNOW without a doubt that God is at work in them.
Sometimes, He gives us a heads-up and
offers us a front-row seat to what He is doing. Other times, He is at work
behind-the-scenes, where we can’t see Him, and His plan is unknown to us.
Either way, we need to trust Him for the outcome.
Yes, life is
filled with change. Seasons change. People change. Circumstances change.
But one
thing NEVER changes, and that is our Lord God and His love, grace and mercy
towards His children.
And because
of this, we CAN let go of all the tough and unfathomable changes that come our
way, hand them over to Him, and trust that He is both present and at work in
them, for our good.
‘We know that God is always at work for the good of everyone
who loves Him’ ~ Romans 8:28, CEV
