The Choice for which Change Begs

Change.

A constant ebb and flow of life. Like a tide coming in and going out, always going, and travelling, and moving to and fro. And its inevitability is unavoidable and inescapable; A fact we can certainly be sure of.

And I have had my share of change lately. New concepts and policies at work, my first year homeschooling, a new co-op to join…with new friends to meet. New ministry ideas and implementations, some of my ministry participation ending, and some new ministry opportunities presenting. A new car, a new yard, a new home loan…and the constant shuffle of the details of life required by all of this change.

Change.

Few find comfort in it.

Few prefer the whirlwind it spins.

It is the rare person who seeks to encounter routine and purposed change. And although most don’t prefer to travel its stretching paths, life brings it on, irrespective of persons, and change presents its unknown path.

Certainly at times the path of change may be exciting and welcomed, but more often it tends to present a path that may hold pain, or doubt, uncertainty, calamity, worry or anxiety. And sometimes it is in these dark moments where it seems that change has brought death…death to a dream, death to our hope, death to what we wanted or wished or desired. Often change presents a loss to be dealt with…a path…a path that begs a choice…

To stop and become paralyzed in the moment

To refuse to move

To lament, and complain, and grovel for it not to be

To long for the past and become embittered in its loss

To remember what was, and close oneself to what lies ahead

 

Or…

To breathe deeply

To pick up one foot at a time and take that first step

To begin to walk the path whose dirt stretches ahead and whose path stretches our hearts

The one that curves into the unseen distance and winds in directions unknown

 

And this is the only way to move forward…

ONE STEP AT A TIME… 

…a willful choice to be made, presented by each and every moment of change.

And this, the goal of choosing to step forward…

To cherish the past, while embracing new possibilities

To acknowledge what was, so you can recognize what could and will be

To give thanks for moments given, and more thanks for those to come

 

It IS a choice, in moments of change…

To gain His perspective

To seek out His plan

To trust in Him with all our hearts,

Having great faith that He WILL direct our path, no matter what lies ahead

 

And it is as we surrender with faith to this process of walking, and being stretched on this new and pioneering path, that our hearts are actually changed. And we are the ones who receive His joy…this very joy that becomes our strength.

This faith to trust in the midst of change, and to step forward…one foot at a time…is the ultimate choice for which change begs. And it is in our surrender that our very hearts are changed and blessed.

May we shift our perspective, trusting and experiencing joy and strength amidst change.

Habakkuk 3:17-19 (ESV)

Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
GOD, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer’s;
he makes me tread on my high places.

   

 

 Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)

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.

 

 

How has change, changed you?

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For When We Need to Keep Pressing On For When You Need to Quit Performing to Earn God’s Love and Blessing :: Sermon on the Mount {Week 2} For When You Dare to Risk Enough to Be Real