In order to grow

Personal Photo: I snapped this photo of this tulip's first season of blooming. It is a parrot tulip, and I planted it at the end of last season, waiting for it to finally come up and put on a show. We have had some colder weather as of late, and Clay has been covering these little beauties with buckets to make sure they don't frost. It is a stark reminder that God protects us from the bite of the devil, that He is teaching us to grow towards His light, and giving us time to develop so we grow and bloom at just the right time.

I heard the engine hum as Clay accelerated up the long driveway to my brother and his wife's new home. Much closer than their residence of over two years down in Georgia, we were in Michigan, only an hour away from our own house. We had loaded up the car with snacks, dog blankets, and ourselves and met my parents at the new place to have a mini welcome party. Katrina, my sister-in-law, was only in town for the short day, having to travel back south to get ready for her college graduation and get back to work, but we wanted to catch up, see them both, and celebrate the transition back to the Midwest.

I found myself bundled up on the chilly spring day with Katrina, while she planted some hostas in the empty flowerbed by their large picture window. We were talking about how busy it was for her, how challenging it will be to leave a job she loves, and how she will miss some of her college professors. It got my wheels turning about all of the changes she and my brother were going through; it really was every facet of life for them, and balancing all of it, along with a fourteen-hour move is nothing short of challenging. We agreed that the change can be sad, and eventually you find yourself longing for the transitional change to be done, so you can adjust to a new lifestyle.

I reflected upon my own life, all the changes that Clay and I have gone through since settling at our house, all the work we continue to put into our home, jobs, and more, and I found myself relating to Katrina and Jason, although very different. We have all set our own goals, found our routine broken up, going through seasons of chaos and change. Change is a necessary part of life. I have heard the saying that change is the only constant in life, and as difficult as some changes may be compared to others, it is nothing short of the truth. I don't like change, I struggle with moving from one chapter to the next, and I like the comfort zone of routine that I build into my life. However, the only way to grow is to change and experience adjustments.

Growing is an important goal for children of God, because we must grow in our faith in order to be better warriors for His kingdom and brighter lights of His glory. Often, we consider growth separate from change, but when we recognize the challenges of change in conjunction with our growth, we can see that some of the biggest growth spurts in our lives come after a season of adjustments. There is no doubt that discouragement and anxiety often accompany change; we experience uncertainty in our future, we have to relearn who we are in different chapters of life, and we might feel as though we have lost more of ourselves than we have found. We might knock on doors that remain locked, wander for what seems like forever, and struggle with the silence of God's responses to our prayers for direction. When we feel this way, we can remember 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, which reads "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self if wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." This verse reminds us that even though change might wear us down, we can find our strength and peace in our faith in God, and that by focusing on Him, we can grow in our faith and prepare for when we reach Heaven. Any disheartenment we experience through our seasons of restarting, change, and adjustments are all chances for us to focus on God, to grow closer to His Word, and to prepare ourselves for the day we get to meet Him face to face.

Trusting in the timing of the Lord can be one of the hardest parts of experiencing change, and we can lose sight of the growing we are doing, simply because we are too close to our own situation. We can be comforted with the words of the Lord, when we are told in Ecclesiastes 3:1-11, stating:

"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace... He has made everything beautiful in its time."

These verses are a stark reminder of how God is not ignoring or abandoning us when we are anxious and uncertain about the changes in our life. Rather, God is working on taking us where we need to be, making us stronger children of His, and helping us grow in our lives and in our faith. The passage from Ecclesiastes explains that God's timing is perfect and that He has coordinated a time for every little detail in our lives. We can depend upon that promise, being reassured that the change is necessary for us to grow closer to Him and to get to where He is calling us to be.

Change is necessary throughout our lives. And as uncomfortable as it may be, we find ourselves growing through every season of change. The experiences we live through, the lessons we learn, they are all part of our unique story, pieces of a puzzle that God designed for our life, all created to lead us to Him, to show us how to be grateful for His hand working in our lives, and to be a beacon of light in a world full of darkness. We grow the most when we set our roots in our faith, water our spirits with the life-giving water of the Holy Spirit and feed our minds with the nourishment from the Bible. Colossians 2:6-7 explains to us "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." When we remain firm in our roots of faith, the changes we experience through our lives simply strengthen those roots, and teach us to seek God out, to grow towards His light, and to remain grateful through every season we go through. The only way for us to grow is to push the boundaries of our comfort zone, to experience adjustments we did not ask for, and to focus on God as we navigate uncharted waters. He will never leave us and will always guide us towards His peace and love!