Change is a scary thing. Whenever we endeavor into the unknown, there is a trepidation that goes along with it. Meaning that there is a level of anxiety and fear that comes with any change. This is mainly referring to big changes, the change of toothpaste you use or how you want to wear your hair today doesn’t really fill us with much fear (unless of course you go from minty to fruity in your toothpaste selection, yuck!). There are big changes we all have in life. New jobs, next steps in relationships, going to a new school, and of course, when God calls us into something unknown. Many times, we have our lives going in one direction and then God shifts us into new territory. Currently, I am going through this, I was wanting to get away from Greensboro but God called me to this city to help usher in a youth awakening (in the coming weeks I can speak more into what part I’ll play into that). The thing that can be so difficult is that change is scary, and often, it is easier for us to ignore it. Today I don’t want to ignore change, I don’t want you to ignore it either, I want us all to embrace change.

I really like change. You might be saying; didn’t you just say that change is hard not one paragraph above this one? And right you are! Change is hard, but I like it. I have an interesting relationship to change. It happened for me in the eighth grade. In that year, I went from being homeschooled to being in school, I joined the Boy Scouts, and entered into a new church. That may not seem too bad, but for an introvert who was quiet, this was difficult. I had to make new friends quickly and begin to understand myself more. I had to know my personality and also decide who I wanted to become, I had to set my identity in stone. I learned to trust God, because God wants to use us for something greater than ourselves. From that moment on, I embrace change. That doesn’t make the change easy or even have it make sense to me all the time, I simply have learned to step into what God presents me with. What I’ve seen is that there is always a reason for each season in life and that God’s plan is always better than my own. Today I want to share that with you to help you embrace the change that God has presented.

A time for everything.

There are seasons in our lives for a reason, each season brings new challenges but more opportunity to grow because of that. In Ecclesiastes 3:1 it says, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” From that moment on it goes through the different things there is a time for, I encourage you to read through it in your quiet times this week because God wants to show each of you so much. The part that stuck out to me specifically for my season in life is when it says in verse 3, “a time to plant and a time to uproot.” I’m in a season of doing a lot of planning in order to enter into a harvest season. I have to be okay with change, I like the change because it shows that God is going to do something big. So, when changes start to happen and it’s different from what I’m used to, I don’t hold onto it, I accept that God is working and I don’t want to get in the way of that. There is a season for everything, so embrace change.

God’s plan is better.

This is such a key thing to understand. Our plans don’t have the big picture in mind, and God wants us to rely on the truth that comes with his plan, that his plan has eternal reward. I’ll give you a great example, I have always wanted to be in full time next gen ministry but in the back of my mind I have always wanted to write for film. Being a kid who loves comics, movies, and writing this seemed like a great plan. I’ll be in ministry but also write and make movies, it’ll be a great combo! I saw my idols like Kevin Smith, who wrote and directed his first movie in college, funding it by selling his comic book collection (true story), and I wanted to be like that. I went to university, and I had a media minor. I had a fallback when God was calling me to be in FULL TIME ministry (I know, I know, I was silly looking back). Then I met with an advisor and learned that I would have to spend another full year in school based on the classes I would need for the minor. God gave me a wake-up call, his plan was and is so much better. God stepped in and told my independent self to remember that I need to be dependent on him. This truth is the same for each of us. So even in season of change, don’t have a fallback, trust completely in what God is leading you towards. Listen to God’s plan, and embrace the change that will come from that plan.

Seasons of change are scary. There aren’t always visible guarantees about what will come and what your life will look like, but we have one key thing. We all have a God who created the universe and knit us in the womb, and that same God has a divine purpose for each of us. Following God is definitely not easy, we will be challenged and we will be attacked, but the reward is strong. We will have the chance to see our brothers and sisters go from death to life. Chains will break, lives will be made new, and relationships will be restored. Why hinder that by rejecting the change? By embracing change and asking God what he wants to teach us through it, we begin to take hold of life and no longer sit back in passivity.

God wants to use us, so embrace the change.

-Joshua Thomas