ChChChChanges!

David Bowie may have said it best.  "Turn and face the pain....changes!".  What is it about change that evokes so much stress and strain?  Why do we resist it so much?  This has been something I have been thinking about for awhile now.  Then today I had a conversation with a friend about this very thing.  She is someone who actually LIKES change.  Imagine that!  In my experience this is a rare thing.  Most people cling to the way things are very stubbornly, refusing to even consider that there might be a better way to do something.

Now I am the first to admit that too much change happening too quickly, especially if it is major life stuff, can be a serious stressor.  Been there, done that.  Lived to tell the tale.  But, the thing is, out of the stress produced by my "too much change" crisis, amazing growth happened.  Because I finally did one thing:  I stopped resisting.  I stopped resisting and I started processing, reevaluating.  I came to accept that I could not beat back any of the changes I was experiencing.  Every single one of them was out of my control entirely.  So, I had two choices.  I could figure out how to "go with the flow", or I could continue to sit at the bottom of the abyss I had fallen in to.  Fortunately for me, God sent someone with a rope and a voice I was able to hear encouraging me to grab it and hang on while he pulled me up and out.  If this hadn't happened, who knows? I might still be wallowing down there!

Instead what happened is that I began to examine my life, my faith, my journey very carefully.  I began to see that the changes which I viewed as all negative, were in fact, all part of God's plan to wake me up out of a sense of complacency and grab my attention. It worked.  I woke up.  I began to see clearly, in some ways, for the first time in my life.  This was an amazing, amazing thing.  What started out as a crisis, ended up being a time of personal growth and transformation.  Yes, change is painful.  But it IS inevitable and we must face it or risk living in endless fear.

This evening I sat down to read my favorite devotional "Jesus Calling".  The thing that I find about this little book is that it seems to mirror whatever I am thinking about, dealing with, questioning. Tonight was no exception.  Here's what Sarah wrote for Feb 17th:

"Do not fear change, for I am making you a new creation, with old things passing away and new things continually on the horizon.  When you cling to old ways and sameness, you resist My work within you. I want you to embrace all that I am doing in your life, finding your security in Me alone.  It is easily to make an idol of routine, finding security within the boundaries you build around your life....Don't try to force-fit today into yesterday's mold.  Instead, ask Me to open your eyes so you can find all I have prepared for your in this precious day of Life."

There are no coincidences. God is speaking to my heart about change.  In my thoughts, thru my conversations with others, thru my readings.  I can feel His hand moving. May His kingdom come, may His will be done.  Whatever that looks like.   Shalom!