CHANGE – Love It, Hate It, Live It Out
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11
Change is a curious phenomenon of life, isn’t it? Love it, hate it, appreciate it or not – change happens to all of us. The scope of emotions we experience range from great anticipation and excitement to fear and dread. We may look forward to the arrival of a new baby, dread the loss of a loved one, or fear the unknown of a job loss. Some changes we see coming. Some changes take us by surprise. All changes are surrounded by a shroud of mysterious unknowns.
Her name was Nancy. She was no stranger to change. Her family moved often to meet the requirements of her father’s job. Early in her senior year of high school, her father announced they were moving to a small farming community in the Oklahoma panhandle. She cried for days when she learned their destination and begged and pleaded with her father not to make her go.
In the ten weeks her family lived there, she met and fell in love with the son of one of the local farmers. His name was Lester. So when her father announced they were moving again, she cried and begged and pleaded to be able to STAY. Nancy and Lester continued courting long distance and were married on Christmas Eve 1959. They lived and raised their family in that same small town where they met.
Nancy and Lester had no idea when they met on that windy, autumn morning how drastically their lives were going to change, but God did. In fact, this was just the first of many changes they would experience. For over 60 years He has walked out their story with them.
God tells us in Jeremiah that He “knows the plans He has for us”. We can take comfort in the fact that He is the author of our story. He knows every minute of every day of our lives. We might not know our next step, but He knows all the steps.
FOR YOUR REFLECTION
- What kinds of changes have you experienced in your life?
- Looking back can you see God’s hand in those changes?
- How has God used change to help you grow?
- Take a minute to thank God for writing your story.
- Look for the changes you are living out right now. How do they glorify God?
Robin Kelley
I am just an ordinary middle-aged woman striving to make a difference one word at a time. . . no matter what hat I am wearing at the time.


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