Another hard thing we humans have to learn is how to deal with change. It’s easy to stay in the same state of mind about how we do life. Think about changing schools or changing jobs and how difficult and challenging it is to learn all the new rules and protocols of a new place where you spend six to eight hours a day with new people with different personalities. There always seems to be changes in life, some little, some big from childhood into senior years. Moving forward after divorce or the death of a loved one. I have heard that divorce is many times comparable to the pain of the death of a mate. I can attest that it is painful, like a ripping of the soul. My life as a single mom revolved around my children until they left home and I became an empty nester, that was hard until I adjusted to being alone more, but I did enjoy a tidier house, lol.

Sometimes we get so comfortable being uncomfortable that it becomes the norm and we reject change for the better, for various reasons from emotional to financial. Living in a home that is dysfunctional or abusive can feel like walking on eggshells, but it’s all we know and we just continue trying to keep it all stable. Hoping for peace, harmony….to be loved, and keep our family together. The cycle of daily life struggles builds till the blow up happens…it could be yelling, aggressive body language, slamming doors or kitchen cupboards….it could be silence and rejection….or it could be the crossing of personal space with physical abuse.

I personally endured emotional and physical abuse for many years and it was not comfortable but I stayed until I was forced to face the reality that nothing was going to change until I changed my thinking that no person should be mistreated by another person, emotionally or physically. Change is a process that takes retraining of the mind that there is a newness of life waiting on the other side of the change.

Think of the seasons and how the changes occur. As we are in the midst of fall, we are seeing the beauty of the changing colors as the sunlight glistens on the flaming red, golden yellow and sunset orange leaves but in that beauty there will also be a process of the leaves falling from the trees to complete dying. The trees go into the process of deep rest until new life evolves in Spring with blooms of bright greens and buds of new flowering of the trees. It appears they are completely dead until hope rises with new life. These are changes that all of creation doesn’t stress over, they just trust the Creator to get them through it all. They are doing what they were created to do! Reflect His glory!

As I trusted God to help me make the changes from surviving life in a very unhealthy abusive marriage to living my life with no fear, I began to see that change is necessary and good. It’s certainly not easy and takes effort to make a reasonable plan to guide and follow through the complete process that you need to make. Healthy changes look different for different people and different situations. It’s always a wise decision to seek godly counsel.

Psalm 32:8 “ The Lord says, I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.”

One change that I personally made that began transformation for the better in my life was in accepting Jesus Christ as Savior and believing in Him with all my heart. I had learned about Jesus as a child but the things that happened in my family resulted in me falling from faith and going on my own search for something to fill the voids. Coming back to my faith in Jesus was a monumental change that took place in my life. It was as if my spirit was in a dormant place like a dead winter tree until the seed of faith began to grow and make everything new and full of life and color as my spirit became alive to God’s love for me. It changed everything within me in a very beautiful way.

II Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has passed and behold, the new has come.”

It didn’t stop there, I kept longing to know more about this God who loved me so much. My situation in life didn’t change for awhile, it remained challenging and painful but I had a new source of joy to draw from and help me through the hard things to come. Little by little I came to believe what God says about me, that I am worthy of love and have a purpose in life, first to love Him and to love others well.

II Corinthians 3:18 “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

When I align myself to trust in my Creator there is no need to stress over the changes, even in letting go of what I need to let go of and holding onto His purposes in my life. Just like the trees trust Him through the changes. I too know He created me and His love, mercy and grace will carry me as changes come. He will carry you too my friend!

In His Love, Sharon Kay