Have you ever wanted things to stay the same? Just for a year. Maybe even a few months would do! After two years of marriage, four states, exciting job changes, and six different homes, I was excited to enter 2015 with the two words the Lord had placed on my heart . . . restore and REMAIN.
Was this going to be the year? Would we really start to settle and not keep looking to the next change?
No.
The year 2015 brought an abundance of opportunities to embrace change. Most of the changes were pursued and wonderful . . . but some were admittedly harder to embrace and left me feeling alone, craving stability. We moved to a new state for my husband’s work, and soon after I went from being at home to the workplace. Six months later a dream opportunity shook things up again, not to mention discovering I was pregnant, so we made the decision for me to stay home to have time to pursue my dream calling. As much as the change was birthed out of blessings — going from being busy at work and surrounded by people all day to being home alone with my own thoughts — it was a difficult adjustment to make!
My husband also faced some work changes and with our little apartment having no room for baby Travis, we ended 2015 with more change on the horizon, including a move — possibly to another state.
So as I reflected on a year for which I was given the word REMAIN from the Lord, I couldn’t help but laugh as not much had remained the same! And I know 2016 will be full of many more opportunities to embrace change as we move to accommodate a growing family and then adjust to life with a newborn.
The reality is we all face change every day.
Whether it is in our own lives, the lives of loved ones, or in the world we live in . . . change is part of life.
Through all the seasons of change, God has taught me what His vision of remaining looks like.
John 15 has always been one of my favorite passages of Scripture and has taught me a lot about weathering change. Jesus said:
“Remain in Me, and I in you . . . If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you . . . Remain in My love.” {John 15:4-9, HCSB}
The REMAIN He wanted to teach me in 2015 was to be learned through change. Even though circumstances, people, and plans around us change . . . we are to remain.
Remain in the Word who became flesh — Jesus.
Remain by keeping our eyes fixed on the unchangeable One, His Word, His promises and love.
Remain by proclaiming the unchanging Truth.
Remain by reading and meditating on God’s Word each day and sharing it with the world around us.
And when events rock our world, when ill health knocks our families, when challenges and changes come our way — through it all, HE remains.
“For I, the LORD, do not change.” {Malachi 3:6, NASB}
After sharing with my friend Melissa, she said to me: “You know, Sarah, it’s just as well you trust Jesus!”
That’s it! Trusting Jesus in the midst of all is how we embrace change with faith and hope.
While our minds, influences, circumstances, and thoughts waver in the storms of change, may we weather them by remaining in the unchanging One who will stand firm, for He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
How will you remain as you embrace change today?
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Related: A beautiful addition to any home or office, this charming canvas wall art will serve as a wonderful reminder that a grateful heart truly will see many blessings!
Leave a Comment
Crystal Hall says
Oh Sarah this message resonates deep within my heart and certainly something I needed to hear this morning. The Lord has given me the word “remain” to embrace in 2016 and I’m beginning to see it in a whole other light than what I thought. Thank you for sharing part of your story.
A says
Thank you for this needed story Sandra. It has been a long and hard season of waiting and slow, almost imperceptible change where “the Lord fallows and tills the ground of my soul” in me and others. Please Lord forgive impatience and lack of trust as you plant and tend the seedlings of the Spirit’s fruit. Praying that all of our changes and prayers are answered slowly and swiftly, for “the Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.” , that we remain (abide).
Ana Brooks says
I will turn to the steady Jesus who never changes.
Vicki Safford says
My daughter Misty Keith shared your blog today, I enjoyed it, and you are right someone once told my there is nothing more consistant than change. Thank you for your insightful words, I enjoyed it very much..
Theodore Great says
agree, the Lord is the same today, yesterday, and forever!
A really great song to remind us that God is always here with us is through all of it by Colton Dixon. Have a blessed day everyone!
Kim S says
You are such a sweet encourager, Sarah! Life is full of all those bumps (for you literally ha!) but I SOOO appreciate you sharing how we can remain in HIM through it all!