I bounced out of the auditorium, diploma in hand, scanning the crowd for my family. A hand fell on my shoulder and the familiar voice of my dad boomed over my head, “Welcome to the real world!”
While I was thrilled to graduate and launch into the “real world,” there was a small ache that comes with leaving the familiar and entering the unknown.
How would I manage on my own? What if I couldn’t do the work at my new job? I was relocating to a new town and living alone. What if I didn’t make any friends?
I couldn’t help but be fearful in the face of so many changes.
There is nothing permanent except change.
~Heraclitus, Greek philosopher
Change is a permanent part of life and it doesn’t take a mathematician to crunch the numbers:
the older you get, the more change you’ll experience.
We can’t always control change, but we can control our response to it. Even when change involves loss, we can frame our thinking with faith, looking for God’s hand in our grief or uncertainty.
1. Look Back
How did God make Himself known? What lessons did you learn in this season of life, good and bad? Who played a role in your journey?
Spend time reflecting on the past season as you prepare for the next. Look for evidence of God’s goodness, provision and sovereignty.
2. Look Around
Who is walking this path with you? What blessings can you find?
There are certainly challenges on the horizon, but God never strands us. He brings people into our lives who can encourage and support us. We can also trust His Holy Spirit to be our ever-present help – leading, comforting and heartening us in every season of life.
3. Look Ahead
God is the faithful “I am.” He was and is and is to come. He has faithfully walked each step of the path with you, and He will be faithful to continue.
I made my move the week after graduation and immediately started my new position. The Lord not only provided me with a good job and good friends, but He also and led me to a wonderful church. Serving there, I came to know and fall in love with a man who would become my husband.
Twenty-nine years and two grown children later, I’m still amazed and overwhelmed at His goodness to me in every change I’ve ever faced.
Heavenly Father, as we face the inevitable changes of life, help us to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with You. We know You are able to make all grace abound so that we always have what we need. You will supply all our needs – physical, spiritual, relational – and will do immeasurably more than we can think or ask.
