Dealing with change?

How are you doing today?  Do you have a lot going on? Are you feeling the weight of some burden of change?  Are you going into your day concerned for the new things that are happening?  Are you a little uncertain… a little worried about what people think… what they might expect of you… what decisions you might face?

Are you juggling between wanting to be with your friends… and not wanting to do what they are doing?

Are you feeling a little guilty about which one is going to win?

Good.

The day you wake up thinking you are through changing… you are through… period.

New school.  New job.  New friends.  Losing friends.  New house. A baby is born.  A family member dies. Lay-offs.  Unemployment checks.  Church splits.  Marriages.  Divorces. 

Change happens.  And it can hurt.  It can be hard.  And it has us confused.  It has us wondering…

Am I alone?  Has anyone ever had to deal with this?  I can’t do this?  No one cares. Why is God letting this happen to me?

If you have had these thoughts please know that the answers are: 

No… you are not alone. 

Yes… others have dealt with these same things. 

Yes… you can do this. 

AND… please hear this…. YES, YES, YES there are those that care.

…

The last question is the one I want to focus on because it is this question that matter the most.  What we believe to be the answer to this question will define how we react to all of the others.

We are meant to face these things.  We are meant to change.  Our lives are not meant to stagnate.  They may steady… but never stop.  We are made to move forward.  We are called to transformation… to change.

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Romans 12:2

There is only one person… ‘scuze me… one Person, that never… ever… changes.

“For I [am] the LORD, I change not.” Mal 6:3

“Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” Hebrews 13:8

If we stand with Christ we can weather any storm.  Every season of change will be a season of fruit… if we are employed by the Husbandman.    Everything we go through will be for His glory… if we love Him.

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.” Romans 8:28

Not only does God allow change… as hard as it may seem… He uses it.

“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, [even] as by the Spirit of the Lord”. 2cr 3:18

The thing that hits me all the time is how I tend to use a watered-down definition of words.  I don’t get the real meaning… but accept the meaning the world has given it.  And when I do that, I loose hope.  But when I get a hold of the real meaning… the meaning the Spirit cries out in agreement over… I am encouraged.

As a Christian, when we experience change we must realize that it is not just losing something… it is getting something.  To be changed is to be exchanged.

“Now this [was the manner] in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing,” Ruth 4:7a

The word for changing is represents that which is exchanged, exchange, substitute, recompense.

When we face something new in our lives and we are faced with big changes… we need to look at them as exchanges.  What is it that God is giving us through Christ?  What is He making room for?  What is the Spirit convicting us of?

If we are feeling alone… could it be that He is making you hungry enough to accept who He is brining into your life?

If we are feeling uneasy about decisions we are making (peer pressure)… could it be that He is asking you to step out in faith and stand for Him?  If so… think of the blessing we receive when we stand beneath the spray of the fountain.

Know that with every exchange in our lives… what He has for us will bring us more toward His glory. 

We have to be willing to let go of what we have securing ourselves with and reach out for Him.  He was right there for Peter when he began to sink… He will be right there for you.

If you are going through a difficult time in your life.  If there is a lot of change.  A lot of pain.  A lot of loss. 

My heart aches for you.

But only so much.  For it also rejoices for you knowing that it will work together for good, and that you are being offered an opportunity to exchange something you have for something better… you are faced with a chance to move from glory to glory.

Keep your eyes toward heaven… fixed on Jesus.  His hand will keep you through this storm.

SDG