This past week was full of change. Two young couples I know delivered their very
first children; two beautiful daughters.
A precious man of God went home to be with his Lord leaving his wife, a
dear friend and mother-in-Christ, once again a widow. The near future holds other changes. My daughter is preparing for marriage which
will entail huge changes in her life. My
Mother-in-law, though doing better, is still struggling with the effects of her
stroke, having to relearn how to speak, swallow and walk. Her husband is facing learning an entire new
role in his life as he must suddenly become a caregiver.
A former manger of mine had a favorite mantra,
"Change is good!" How he loved
to repeat that, particularly when employees complained about changes. He had a good point, as change often is good,
however I am finding more and more that change, while needed in our lives, is
often hard. I think of my nephew and his
wife as well as the couple in my church who just had their first little
ones. While the birth of their daughters
is a wonderful blessing, their lives will never be the same. They will face new challenges that they never
dreamed of. The death of my friend,
Roger, was a good thing for him. God
blessed him by taking him Home in his sleep and he is now with Christ as well
as with all those who have gone on before, singing God's praises! That same change for him means a whole different
life for his widow who faces loneliness and sorrow as she misses him day by day. My Mother-in-law, who has always been the one
to take care of meals and the house is faced with having to accept care,
something I can attest to as being very hard.
In a second of time life forever changed for her. My Father-in-law, always the bread winner in
the home, is faced suddenly in his life with becoming a caregiver for his wife
as well as doing the things she has always done. Those changes, while doable are going to be hard.
My late husband was a man who hated anything medical,
couldn't stand being sick, threatened to pass out at the sight of needles or
blood and was faced with major change when he was diagnosed with lung
cancer. I remember thinking at the time
that I didn't understand why God allowed him to have it and not me. Dave thought he could not change, but he
found out he could as he went through treatments for his cancer. Life also changed dramatically for our family
with Dave's illness and death and then once again as I faced cancer and cancer
treatments. I don't believe that my
husband would have survived three years with his lung cancer without calling on
God's grace to change him to allow him to go through the treatments and to do
things that he never thought he could do.
I know I would have had a much more difficult time dealing with my
cancer treatments if my family had not been willing to change and do things for
me that I never thought they would have to do in their life.
It seems as I read Scriptures that every child of God is called to change as they face
major challenges. It is reassuring to
read about those people as we see how they struggled and rebelled just like we
do, but we also get to see the outcome when they are faithful. Without the challenges we would never change
and that is unacceptable to a God who seeks to refine us and turn us into gold!
Like those men and women of the Bible,
we have a choice: hide our heads in the
sand and pretend we don't need to change or understand that our Savior walks
before and with us and go forward a step at a time by His grace. It is
easy to be overwhelmed, but God never calls us to change, but that He promises
to give us what we need to handle it. (Psalm
86:7, Hebrews 13:5)
This week I am especially praying for those I know being
called to change. I am praying for the
two couples with the start of their family, that when the challenges come they
would see God walking beside them. For
my daughter, Rachel, I am praying that she will not become overwhelmed with the
wedding planning, but will be able to look with joy to the time when she and
Ryan can, by God's grace, show forth the relation of Christ and His Bride in
their marriage. I pray for my friend,
Florie, that she and Roger's family may know, even in their sorrow, that his
death cannot separate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus their
Lord. My prayer for my Mother-in-law is
that she may not give up hope, but continue to fight the physical battles,
knowing Jesus walks beside and before her.
I pray my Father-in-law might know that he can "do all things
through Christ who strengthens" him as he learns to do things he never
thought he would have to do. Oh that we
would all learn that change is good when it comes from above!
The choicest saints
are 'born to troubles as the sparks fly upwards,' Job v. 7. 'Many are the troubles of the righteous;' if
they were many, and not troubles, then, as it is in the proverb, the more the
merrier; or if they were troubles and not many, then the fewer the better
cheer. But God, who is infinite in
wisdom and matchless in goodness, hath ordered troubles, yea, many troubles to
come trooping in upon us on every side.
As our mercies, so our crosses seldom come single; they usually come
treading one upon the heels of another; they are like April showers, no sooner
is one over but another comes. And yet,
Christians, it is mercy, it is rich mercy, that every affliction is not an
execution, that every correction is not a damnation. The higher the waters
rise, the nearer Noah's ark was lifted up to heaven; the more thy afflictions
are increased, the more thy heart shall be raised heavenward. Thomas Brooks "A Mute Christian
Under the Rod" 1659
