Over the last 20 years, change has woven itself into the fabric of my life sometimes seamlessly and, at other times, in big, ugly clumps.

From when I graduated college till now, I’ve moved cities seven times (That includes addresses on two continents). While that may sound like I seek out adventure, in reality, I like to stay put. Give me boring ol’ consistency over uncertainty, any day.

I think back to when I was 27 years old. It was a season when I transitioned from being single to being a starry-eyed newlywed. While I was over the moon, I also needed to move over to the other side of the world to where my handsome husband lived (Yeah, after 16 years, I’m still fairly smitten). Two weeks after our wedding, I packed a couple of suitcases and went from Bangalore, India, where I had a job and a sizeable circle of friends, to Portland, Oregon, where my visa didn’t allow me to work, I didn’t have a driver’s license, and had a grand total of zero friends or family. Of course, over the years of living in Portland, I found my people and a seat at the table. But in the initial days of moving my entire life to a new country and culture, the learning curve was steeper than one of those rickety stairways to an airplane.

When we moved back to Bangalore after a decade of living in Portland, we had to re-learn everything from elbowing one’s way to the front of a line to bargaining with the vegetable guy because that was what was expected of you. Technically, it’s called “reverse culture shock.” To us, it was about rolling with the punches.

Recently, my husband transitioned to a new job after twenty years with his previous company, and our 14-year-old son is in the process of moving to a new school where he will know no one.

I’m guessing that even if you may not have moved geographically, change has snuck into your life, too. Perhaps things changed when you lost your job during the company restructuring, or your kids went off to college, or your best friend moved to a new city, or you needed to find a new church, or you got a medical report you weren’t expecting.

Change ruffles your feathers and catapults you out of your comfort zone. Transition shreds your tried and tested routine into unrecognizable bits. It takes what you think you know and goes, “Yeah, right. Like that’s going to work now!”

You can’t hang out with your people anymore. You can’t work or shop the way you used to. You can’t rely on your old schedule. You can’t even drive on the same side of the road sometimes. Insecurity comes knocking at your door more often than the Amazon guy during the holidays. Change makes most of us sweaty under the collar.

But in seasons of change, here’s one truth that can steady us: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13: 8)

The sameness, the steadfastness, of Christ through all the seasons of life can anchor us through the storms of change.

In the words of Max Lucado, “You can endure change by pondering His permanence.”

He is the Rock of Ages. He is unchanging. He is eternal.

Is your world going to be shaken like a snow globe every now and then? Absolutely. Because change is inevitable. But when the transition is overwhelming, we get to say, “Lord, You are the powerful and loving God who worked things out in the past and You are the same God today.”

He will continue to stay in control because of His immutable sovereignty.

He will continue to love you because of His unchanging, everlasting love.  `

He will continue to display His power because of His absolute omnipotence.

He will continue to work things out for our good and His glory because of His irreversible providence.

Yesterday, today, and forever, He is the same.

In a world that celebrates adaptability, where values keep shifting, where people blow hot and blow cold, where the only thing we can expect is the unexpected, God reminds us: “For I the LORD do not change” (Mal. 3:6).

As the beloved hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” goes: Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not; As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

When change threatens to make us slip and slide in a miry pit, we can plant our shaky feet on the Solid Rock that is Jesus.

Lean In

Father God, I don’t particularly like the season of change I find myself in. It is unnerving and overwhelming. But I hold on to the truth that nothing takes You by surprise and nothing in my life happens by accident. You are the all-knowing and all-powerful God. And You are the unchanging One who steadies me through the winds of change I encounter. In Jesus’ name, Amen

 

---

If you liked what you read, SUBSCRIBE for FREE so you get my posts in your inbox. Or you can follow my writing page on Facebook or Instagram

And if this post resonated with you, and you think it might help someone else,  hit those unobtrusive little ‘share’ buttons below. Thank you so much!