Change - dont rush it

The sky closes in over the sun leaving a cloud of shadow full upon the pathway as my shinny new running shoes hit the stone. The droplets start to fall as the clouds start to descend closer to the earth. Its winter, no wait, summer, no wait spring .. I think... what time of day is it, what month... does our man made measurement hold any weight or relevance on this day!?!

So far this year the word that floats around me in one way or another, is change. As my feet continue to hit the paving stones with hail starting to drop before me, I realised it is on this path I walked nearly three years ago, on this path I walked with a companion at my side. Today it offers a sense of familiarity in a world I stand where change drifts around me both inner and outer. 

Leaving a sense of what is change anyway! I use the world to describe a shift in my countries, in my communities, in my surroundings. I use the world to label the inter world of movement, of growth, of challenge. 

When going through change, the new normal doesn’t feel normal overnight. Yes, in changing seasons like this one, we can hold the hand of trust because the Lord’s presence goes where ours cannot. I can also acknowledge that it’s okay to be sad, too. Right now, it’s okay for me to tear up when I round the corner to stairs that guide me to a place of rest with realising dual living is no more. It’s okay to sign when I accidentally about to call the letter that is second nature only to realise letters need to be written not spoken now. 

When walking through a new season of change, until we get use to the new lay of the land, we must take our time and take it slow. This is great wisdom that rest upon me at this time. A message I hear within, a message I hear from my wisdom figures. I am offered a few days of peace, of rest to catch my breath. My heart griefs in a way for what I have taken for granted in the security of a place or rather a community where I called home. An invitation offer to return back to that foundation of home within, home in the Lord. 

This is realty … or lives change, the world we live in changes, and when it does we must reinvent ourselves as writers. Now, don’t misunderstand me, I do hold strong to the Lord is the master author, yet stop for a moment and think…… 

It’s true for any of us walking through a new season, writer or not. In a way, we must reinvent ourselves as we move through our lives when they look so foreign from before. At the very least, we must get use to the new circumstances and move around them differently. 

Change comes in so many different ways and degrees. Sometimes we have to move quickly through some of the changes new seasons brings, while other times we can slowly adapt to the change before us. Regardless the degrees of change our heart need time to take in, process all the changes. It means while going through any change we have to not hold shame or talk down to ourselves for taking time… change can move our bodies into new territory, and it may take our hearts and souls a little time to catch up. We must gift ourselves with rest for this to happen. We MUST resist the urge to rush towards panic as we refuse to move through change season alone. 

As I lay awake at 3am, or sit in a room that overlooks unfamiliar lane, I rest in the Lords presence. 

“Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in mighty waters….” 

Isaiah 43:16-17 

A gentle reminder there is no obstacle change brings that the Lord does not bring a way through. There is no change we encounter that the Lord is not master over. There is no season we experience that He doesn’t provide us with endurance. 

We may be in a time or change, have a friend or family member walking through change be it job transition, family transitions, graduating, moving into nursing care, moving house, whatever the season one thing we don’t’ have to do is rush our hearts and souls through this season. Do what you need to do on the outside, but let the Lord do His good work on the inside in His good timing.