Changes

Part of life is change, we all know this to be true.  Some of us welcome it with open arms and others run from it like the plague.  No matter how we choose to react, it comes and it comes at its own timetable.  The past few years have brought tremendous change in my life.  I've only been married for 6 years, that was a change after all those years of independence.  I had a baby, then had another one....both huge changes.  I moved from Maryland to Virginia and then moved 3 times while in Virginia.  Lots of change.  

Why is it that we're at times so terrified of change?  There's a host of reasons, but the big one for me is trust.  Anyone ever had a tiny struggle with that little 5 letter word?  Anyone?  How can so few letters be so troublesome?  Here's my latest example should anyone be interested.

I have recently made the decision, with my husband, or course, to let my appraisal business go.  I've been working in the appraisal field since 1993 and have had my own real estate business since 2000.  Why in the world would I do that?  Well, business has been getting slower and slower and frankly I've decided to focus on other things and challenge myself in different directions.  Change.  I've been toying with the idea for some time, but I pushed it aside and recently I realized one of the reasons why.  Letting my business go is going to force me to, GULP, trust in ways I have never really had to.  I have worked since I was 15 years old and have been on my own since 23 and have always supported myself.  I now must trust my husband in ways I never truly had to.  This is not going to be easy since that independent streak in me pops up here and there without me even realizing it. 

I'm sure it's quite obvious where I'm going with this.  Although learning to trust my husband in a deeper way is going to be a challenge, it's also going to bring us closer together.  I'm going to depend on him in new ways and he is going to be needed in new ways.  Men love, love, love to be needed.  They long to provide.  I'll have a new appreciation for Brian and he'll have a renewed sense of provision.  It's a win-win in the end.

God works in the same way.  It's without fail through the challenges and rough spots in our life that we truly learn to trust Him and need Him.  He never fails us, never will.  That's a promise.  As we learn to trust Him we grow closer to Him and our relationship with our Lord is strengthened.  Sometimes the changes we are faced with are heart wrenching ones, sometimes just annoying, or somewhere in the middle.  God doesn't care what the challenge is, if it matters to you it matters to Him and He wants nothing more than to carry every single one of us through our challenges.  God doesn't allow change to hurt us, that's not His way.  His goal is to make us the best we can be for His glory and getting to our best will inevitably involve change.