Who likes change? Who likes moving from house to house, transferring from school to school, having new teachers, colleagues, bosses, teams and friends and saying goodbye to family and old friends? Who likes moving from the familiarity to the unfamiliarity?
I’ve had multiple experiences of change in my life:
- When I was 10 years old, I moved to a different primary school, neighbourhood and home.
- When I was 15 years old, I changed churches that I’ve been to my whole life.
- Between the ages of 15-25 years of age, I’ve worked in 9 different occupations.
- When I was 20 years old, I went to study and live in a different country for a year.
- When I was 25 years old, I said goodbye to all my family and friends back home, sold and gave away all my belongings and went on an adventure to see the world, partake in this mission trip and possibly work abroad and do missions for the rest of my life.
- A few weeks ago at the age of 26, I changed teams and had 6 totally new team members.
My life is full of change; some that I looked forward to and some that I use to wish never happened. Amongst all this change, I’ve noticed there was always one thing that got affected – the people in your life. I’ve said goodbye to so many people in my life; some that I’m so grateful to be still in contact with through the Internet, but lots that I haven’t heard from in a long time.
When I changed schools, I lost all my friends and my favourite teachers. Even though we tried to keep in contact through letters, they eventually stopped when we grew older. When I moved house, I said goodbye to my favourite neighbours who use to always take care of us and play with us when we were younger. When I changed churches, it felt like I left my family because I grew up in the church and knew every single person there. When I changed jobs, it also felt like I was leaving family as we had all trained and started the job together at the same time. When I moved to Canada for a year and started this journey, I said goodbye to everything and everyone that I’ve ever known. Saying goodbye to family and friends that understand you and have taken the time to invest in your life and vice versa has been really hard. Even changing teams recently was difficult because the girls I had spent the last four months with knew what I was like prior to the race and had challenged and encouraged me to grow into the person I have become. But throughout all these difficult moments, there was always one person that had been constantly by my side and has given me a purpose to wake up every day and enjoy the life that I have, and that is Jesus.
Throughout the bible, God reminds His people that He is with them when they experience change.
- In Deuteronomy 31:6 and 8 when Moses is passing on his leadership role to Joshua, he tells the people, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” & “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”
- In Matthew 28:20b when Jesus is about to return back to heaven and commissions his disciples to go and reach people around the world, he says, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Furthermore, when you understand this promise that God gives, and continue to obey his direction in your life just like when Abram obeyed God to “leave [his] country, [his] people and [his] father’s household and go to the land I will show [him]” in Genesis 12:1, God promises to bless you abundantly in verses 2-3. When I left home 9 months ago, I never expected to be learning so much about God, His purpose for the world, His people and His love for each one of them, His ministries and work around the world, His desire to develop my character to be more Christlike, and His preparation for me to commit to doing full-time missions after the race.
God might ask you to do something totally unfamiliar or scary which may push you out of your comfort zone or make you leave things, places or people that you love behind, but remember when you are experiencing change, know that He is with you in that moment. He has already gone before you and is preparing you for whatever you will experience. He tells you to not be afraid or discouraged but be strong and courageous because He will be with you every step of the way. God loves you; He has an amazing plan for your life and all you need to do is believe in him and trust that He will get you through the good and hard times of change, and intends to bless you abundantly as you continue to follow him.
Do you believe that?
