Who likes changes? “Me, me, me!” Said no one. Ever. We have just come out of a year full of changes. Some changes are pleasant – this last year was not.
Our family, prior to 2020 had just experienced a couple of really blessed years. We had moved out of the big city; we were able to buy a home that we love. It is in the small town of Sandy in the foothills of Mt. Hood. We were blessed in our jobs. My husband was moving up the ranks of seniority and enjoying the benefits that come with that. I was given a promotion into what is really my dream job. My daughter got to attend a small-town high school, incidentally, the same high school my mother graduated from – pretty cool! These were changes too, but happy ones.
When 2020 started, I know I wondered if maybe our time of being so blessed was coming to an end. I had no idea EVERYONE’s year was going to be so challenging! But there it is. We have made it to the other side of it and here it is 2021. What can we make of it? What lessons can we learn from 2020? Changes have been a hot topic of late.
So, changes can be good or bad. They are almost always full of stress and we rarely look forward to them. Even our move, even though we were excited about being able to do it – was not a fun project! Last year taught us that changes can take place very fast and without us being able to control it at all. But again, here we are. We got through it. I think forever changed, but we are here. The Bible assures us that life will be full of changes. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 is all about life’s changes. “There is a time for” …everything. How we react to those changes though – is within our control. We can let them develop us or we can let them devour us. This we have a choice of. I think I have learned, or am learning, to embrace change better.
I have seen some great changes in recent years, and some hard changes too. But God has brought me through them, and I hope a better person for it. It is through these changes that we learn to trust Him. Even when it is hard. He is there. But we must look for Him. I think it is when we fail to look that we truly fall. It is in the working hard to find, it is in the search, that I seem to grow the most. For the searching is what takes me to my knees, it is what brings me to worship, it has me looking in His Word. It has me looking for His people, His Church to find the support that I need to keep searching. It is doing these things that we learn and grow and develop – so that we are not devoured. It gives me the strength to face whatever changes lie ahead.
