Change: The One Thing at Odds in the Battle of Consistency
At this point in time, I did not expect my life to look quite like this. I thrive on routine, schedules, and lists. I go through post-it notes like I drink water. Plans keep me company, and my greatest fear is being unprepared for something. Change can often be the unexpected visitor at your door that you didn’t put on your to-do list for the week. Though, sometimes, change is a process that you foresee coming or even instigate yourself.
Six years ago, I graduated high school with a set of goals for the future. Like many people my age, choosing a career involved lots of college visits and discussions with family and prayer. I chose to go into the career of teaching. I worked hard in school, learned under fabulous professors, and befriended a talented mentor teacher. After my first year of teaching, I found it difficult to see myself in this profession long-term. I didn’t love it, and I struggled with the idea that I was locked into a career that didn’t give me the same joy that it gave so many of my friends. Change is a process. Stress leads to self-pity, but new beginnings are created out of asking yourself simply, “What are my options?” This question led to me taking more schooling in the field of accounting, and ultimately God provided me the perfect job for learning alongside experienced accountants and serving them as their business grew and continues to grow. The Lord knows what our future will look like, and He is never surprised.
When thinking about change and all the ways it inserts itself into my life, whether voluntarily or not, I am comforted by the fact that the one thing that will never change in this world is that my Savior is the one constant in my life. Sometimes, loved ones are called home, careers are switched, new people come into our lives, we move, we get injured, and sometimes we are not as close to God as we would like to be. However, Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” When my faith wavers, His pursuit of me remains unchanged.
Change is necessary because it makes us get out of our comfort zones. It also challenges the status quo. And it is only when something is challenged, that it either wilts or grows stronger. Jesus changed the way that the Jews pursued God. By fulfilling the Old Testament law, Jesus challenged the Pharisees’ rigid ways of thinking. People could now follow Christ directly and receive His Holy Spirit.
When Jesus calls us to trust Him fully, there is a change that occurs inside us. This instance of change gives way to hope, passion, wisdom, love, steadiness, and the conviction that whatever happens, I know who I am and who He is fashioning me to be for His kingdom.
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[quote bar=”true” align=”center”]Change is necessary because it makes us get out of our comfort zones. It also challenges the status quo. And it is only when something is challenged, that it either wilts or grows stronger.[/quote]
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Personally, I’m not very content living in the present. I love looking to the future, but I can also be pretty nostalgic. Growing up, my mom and I would enjoy spending hours planning family trips together. She passed on her affinity for travel to me. I soak it in from the moment I walk into the airport, to looking out the window on the airplane, to viewing the captivating scenery, to hearing the laughter of my family. When I’m nostalgic, I see the beauty and simplicity of the ways things once were in my life. My most treasured memories are traveling to my grandparents’ lake house in South Carolina. It was the epitome of an escape in the middle of the woods. From the warmth of my Mimi and PawPaw, to the delicious home cooking, to the dangerous golf cart rides with my cousins holding fireworks, this was the definition of effortless joy and a family built on our mutual love for the Lord. As we get older, we don’t get those same childhood experiences back, but we do have the opportunity to give that gift to our children.
God is the ultimate planner. However, He calls us to leave room for His Spirit to prompt us in the present moments. This is something I have to work on myself. I cannot confine my life with the schedules I put in place without allowing God to use me in a particular moment to reach someone that does not know who this Jesus really is.
I recently read a book called Start with Amen by Beth Guckenberger. I was intrigued by the title, as we often relate the word “amen” to the closing of a prayer. In this book, she describes all the ways in her life that she has learned to “surrender” her plans to God. The word “amen” means “so be it”. One of the phrases she states in her book that resonated with me is the fact that “saying amen surrenders to the promise He is on the job, even when His timeline doesn’t always make sense.” We are finite people who cannot expect or attempt to understand an infinite Savior. However, we can proclaim an emphatic AMEN when change does come into view, remembering that Jesus is our constant, unwavering stronghold that we don’t ever have to give up or live without. In fact, He invites us to live with Him forever. How encouraging is that?!
C. Montgomery