When I look back on my life, it has been a journey full of change. With various phases and stages of life, change happens. Right now in my life I am facing another one of those changes in my life. For quite a while I had felt the need to scale my life back in order to phase into retirement. As I was praying and thinking through this, a church in the area, which happens to be in my hometown, approached me about part-time work with them on an interim basis. I began talking with them and the more we talked, the more it was obvious that God was orchestrating this change in my life. With that change comes the excitement of what is ahead, but also the sadness of leaving behind what I have been a part of for the past 15 years.
The past 15 years have been being a church plant called Journey Church in 2009 beginning with only four people, to a merger in 2014 to become SCC for the past 10 years. God has blessed me the past 15 years here at SCC and now he has blessed me with the privilege to go back and serve in my hometown as I scale back and ease into retirement.
When I began sensing a need to scale back my life and ease into retirement, a church in my hometown came to me about their need for part-time interim work. After months of praying and seeking God’s wisdom, we all felt this was God’s plan for us in the future. This is a change coming just around the corner that impacts me, the ministry of SCC that I am leaving, and the new ministry that I will begin in January.
What I have experienced over the years is while change in many ways is unpredictable from our perspective, change is also a time full of anticipation and excitement. I am excited to have the blessing from God to scale back my life, phase into retirement, invest my leadership in many new ways, and be a part of ministry with so many people who have known me most all of my life and who I have known most all my life. I am anticipating great things as I move into this next phase of my life as well.
To really embrace change in our lives, we have to be willing to let go of what we know and trust God to show us what is happening in the change he is putting before us. You can see how this works when you watch a gymnast on the uneven bars. While they are doing their routine, there is a moment when they have to let go of the bar and be suspended in the air for a brief moment before they once again grab hold of the bar. It is a transition in the routine, or what we would call, change. When change happens, there is that moment where we have to let go of what we know, trust God as we move into the change he has put into our lives.
When we are faced with change, the only way to navigate change well is to look back on God’s faithfulness in the past and his direction in the moment that prepares me for the change of the future. One of the verses that I think speaks so incredibly well to changes in life is, 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6).
When we apply this verse to life change, it puts it all into perspective. When it comes to life, change is inevitable. The only variable with change is how are we going to navigate through it. Are we going to resist it or embrace it? The only way to make sense of change, navigate it well, and embrace it is to look back on life and see how God has led us in the past, how he is with us in the present, and trust him to lead us into the future. Look at all the ways that God has blessed us and has proven himself in our lives. When it says in Proverbs to trust in the Lord with all your heart, that means we have to discern and know God’s heart for us.
What is God’s heart for us in change? God cares so much that he has our lives all planned out. As we are reminded in Jeremiah, God has great plans for us. 11 For I know the plans I have for you (Jeremiah 29:11). God loves us so much that he has plans all laid out for us in the present and into the future all proven by how he has laid them out for us in the past. Albert Einstein is considered to be one of the most intelligent people who have ever lived. He made several quotes about the future and how the past connects to the future. One of his quotes was, “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.”
The past is intended to show us where we have been in order to give us hope in the moment and hope and direction for the future. Einstein also said, “The future is an unknown, but a somewhat predictable unknown. To look to the future we must first look back upon the past. That is where the seeds of the future were planted. I never think of the future. It comes soon enough.”
When we look at this, it becomes obvious when it comes to God’s plan for our lives, not one moment is wasted. All of life is a preparation for the future; and the best preparation for the future is to live as if there were none. The moment you find yourself in is not just for the moment. God is using it to eventually give us a teaching moment when it comes time for us to move from the present into the future which quite often involves change. When we look back and see how God has been faithful in the past, we can have confidence and assurance to move into the future and the change that awaits us. With the certainty of the past we can navigate with confidence the uncertainty of the future. We should maximize every moment so that when it is in the past we have learned something for the future.
What is God’s heart for us in change? God’s heart for us is success. In Jeremiah’s writings it does say that God has plans for us. And not only plans for us, but plans for a future and hope. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11). When we know that God is leading us, we know it will be for success because God is moving us into the future all in hope for his glory. God’s name and honor is always at stake as we move into the future. So, if God is leading us and we know that he is, we can also know God is leading us to succeed.
What is God’s heart for us in change? God’s heart for us is to always be near to us. In the passage from Jeremiah it goes on to say that when we seek him with all our heart we will find him. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 29:13-14). God is not about playing hide and seek with us. God wants us to find him and that is a huge comfort when we are in a season of change. As things shift around us, God’s presence with us is constant. So, when we are facing a change, God’s presence never changes. God never leaves us and always wants us to find him.
The amazing thing is that if for some reason we have lost sight of him in the change, we will find him in the change when we genuinely and sincerely seek him. As a matter of fact, God is already in the future of the change and ahead of what we are getting ready to face with anticipation, excitement, and some uncertainty. Simultaneously, God is with us and he is already in our future just waiting on us to get there. So, really there should be lots of excitement, lots of anticipation, and extreme confidence instead of uncertainty.
When it comes to life, change is inevitable. As long as we live we are always changing which also means we are always evolving and maturing. Embrace change for what it is as God’s plan for your life. Always know what is new to us is not new to God. God has had it all planned out; we are just now seeing it come to pass. Maximize every moment you find yourself in so that when change happens you will be prepared and able to look back and see how God has led you and been so faithful to you. Whenever you are facing change, know that God is with you, has gone before you, and he wants you to succeed.