Many of you know that our family’s situation changed pretty dramatically here recently. Diana and I knew it was the right decision and God has confirmed that time and time again. However, at the beginning I wondered how would this new challenge effect our boys? That answer came the first night when they displayed more love to someone else than I thought was humanly possible. I realize that I am bias, but Eli, Noah, and Caleb are three of the most loving and amazing boys I have ever known. They didn’t question what this change meant for them or how was this going to change the amount of time Diana and I spent with them, or even why are we doing this? Rather they embraced the change and have even loved the change.
That got me to thinking, how do we react with change? In our minds we consider some changes to be good while other changes are considered bad. But my question to us is this, if the change is God-led is there anything such as a bad change? Changes can be unnerving, scary, and make us feel out of control, but are those things in an of themselves bad things? There are countless stories in the Bible in which Jesus taught that if we were going to follow Him, we were going to have to turn over control of our life completely. Many of us are ok with God making changes in our life, but we want them to be slow and steady. While God does make some changes over time in our life, there are some changes that are best done like taking a Band-aid off, just rip it. While you and I cannot control many of the changes that come into our life, we can certainly handle how we react to them. I think of Job, here was a man who loved God and followed God according to Scripture. Yet in the matter of a day or so, Job went from happy and blessed to I imagine confused but still blessed. Job 1:20-21 says, “Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped , and said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord (italics mine for emphasis).” This was Job’s response to the sudden death of his sons and daughters and the killing of his livestock. Here was a man who’s circumstances in life radically changed. He could have gotten mad, questioned God, and thrown a temper-tantrum crying “this isn’t fair.” But instead we see Job worshipping God and blessing the name of God. Job couldn’t control the change that came into his life, but he was in control of how he reacted to it.
I know change isn’t easy. You can ask my wife, I am a man of routine and I don’t like that routine altered. But many times change is not only good for us, but it is necessary. God’s desire is for us to become more like Him (Rom. 8:29), and to bring about that change, God must change us. The best way to handle change is to pray through it asking God for strength, wisdom, and faith. We need to worship and bless God through change because He is still God, He is still on His throne, and His is still in control.
Although I know you won’t be able to read this right now (especially since only one of you can read as of right now), I want you to know how much I love and appreciate you Eli, Noah, and Caleb. Though God has given me the task of teaching you to become men of God, you have taught me!
By His grace and through His strength may we live for Him!
Loved it