...our third youngest is now officially a college sophomore...
Geez, how on earth did this happen? Just the day before yesterday, we were rocking infants in the middle of the night, reading Goodnight Moon for the umpteenth time, attending Mother's Day teas at preschool, and serving messy snow cones at "Fun in the Sun" at Root Elementary.
And now? Weddings and graduations and teenagers and high schoolers preparing to fly the coop. This parenting stuff is rewarding, exhausting, wonderful, but haaaard business as it constantly challenges us to adapt to continual change and to let go and let go and let go. Oh my, it's difficult sometimes to pry our clutching (but loving) fingers off our children one painful bit at a time.
But in the midst of all of life's changes, isn't it reassuring that God never ever changes? "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." (Heb.13:8) And if He is always with us--and He is!--then He will use all those changes for our ultimate good and His glory. "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:9)
What a reminder--we shouldn't be frightened or intimidated or discouraged by change, because He's commanded us not to be scared or downhearted, for our Almighty Lord is forever and always with us wherever we go...and wherever our children go.
I loved these words from Shauna Niequist's book, Bittersweet, "...I've learned the hard way that change is one of God's greatest gifts and one of His most useful tools. I've learned the hard way that change can push us, pull us, rebuke and remake us. It can show us who we've become, in the worst ways, and also in the best ways. I've learned that it's not something to run away from, as though we could, and I've learned that in many cases, change is not a function of life's cruelty but instead a function of God's graciousness...
If you dig in and fight the changes, they will smash you to bits. They'll hold you under, drag you across the rough sand, scare and confuse you. But if you can find it within yourself, in the wildest of seasons, just for a moment, to trust in the goodness of God, who made it all and holds it all together, you'll find yourself drawn along to a whole new place, and there's truly nothing sweeter. Unclench your fists, unlock your knees and also the door to your heart, take a deep breath, and begin to swim. Begin to let the waves do their work in you."
Yes, Lord yes! Doesn't it all come down to trust? To trust that God is in our futures just as He has been in our pasts. To trust that He Who has never failed, will not fail us now. To trust that no matter what it might look like at the moment, the best truly is yet to come...because heaven is always ahead of us. To trust that if we unclench our fists and let go, God will hold and guide and care for those we love more than we ever could. To trust that God's plans and ways are always always always best. To trust that He who died for us also lives for us and will lead us safely to our heavenly home.
To trust the changeless God with all our changes...because He is forever faithful, worthy, loving, good, kind, and perfectly trust-worthy.
Not sure what kinds of changes you might be facing today, but I do know that we're all facing them--some happy, others hard; some exciting, others exasperating; some joyful, others fearful. Whatever the changes, might we remember our never-changing, ever-faithful God is sovereignly in control of them all. He will use every change to grow us, shape us, teach us, reveal Himself to us in new ways, and ultimately bless us and bring glory to His name. But we've got to be willing to "unlock our knees...take a deep breath, and begin to swim." And that simply means choosing to trust.
Father, we believe. Help our unbelief so that we might swim in the glorious waters of Your infinite grace and goodness.
To God be the glory.
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