The power of change

It happens JUST LIKE THAT!

It happens quick, sudden and sometimes before you can even blink and realize that your world as you once knew it is spinning to a new horizon.

Life happens…too quickly it seems. We go from changing diapers to driving lessons and you wonder how things changed SO quickly.

Change is tough, crippling at times. It encompasses our entire soul for that “season” of life. We go from predictable to the unknown, losing our sense of safety and security we thought we had.

I sat in church this morning and found myself lost in prayer. (A good place to be lost I recon!) We have a candle that is lit every Sunday during prayer. It is a candle to remind us to be in prayer for our Pastor Search committee. I found myself drawn to that candle this morning and even more so, to a deep connection with Jesus.

This is the type of change my heart hurts over. I cringe at the thought of being thrown from my comfort zone and everything I loved about my church. My pastor was my safe haven I guess you could say. He had been there for my family through so much. He knew us, I mean, he loved his church and the people in it with a deep passion. So why change?  My heart was broken when he left. In a predictable world, church stays the same, right? Same leaders, same songs, same seat?!?! 

My heart began to see that God was using our pastor for His glory and this CHANGE was not about my comfort at all.

The truth is, in some ways we all have an opposition to change, especially when life seems to be going just great. We seem to forget that we serve a God who makes ALL things new.

Revelation 21:6 says: “Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make ALL things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful."

The problem is, without change growth is impossible. We become stagnant and complacent.

In Genesis 12, God called Abram to leave everything he had ever know. Completely take a step of faith and simply trust God.

“I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all on earth will be blessed through you.”

I can only imagine what went through Abram’s mind. Fear, worry doubt? The inevitable fear of the unknown often cripples us from being the servants we are called to be. Abram trusted God. He obeyed God. His whole world was changed and yet he had no clue the vast reality of what God had in store for his future. He became the father of the Hebrew nation, the land which God gave;  Israel. The nation from which God would send the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ.  

I simply find myself in awe of how God can use us if we only trust and obey.

I pray that I can have a heart like Abram. I want to follow God wherever He leads, no matter what change may come.

I pray that God leads our church into realms I can’t even fathom. I realize that God has amazing things in store for our church. That candle was a reminder to me that He is the light we seek. He is the change we need. My heart prayed for our committee and our future pastor. I pray that fear and change will not be overwhelming but yet welcomed with prayer and guidance for what our future holds in Him!

My heart holds true to this. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and in God. 

Hebrews 13"8 says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." The one unchanging truth my heart clings to.