Thankful for Change
What can we be thankful for?
When I asked myself this question, I thought of some of the usual answers: family, health, friends. After further thought, I came up with a different answer. CHANGE.
As we all know, change is part of life. I think most everyone has heard this said before. There are the usual changes of getting older and wiser (supposedly). Then there are changes that help to shape a person into who God wants them to be. These changes are often difficult and taxing. They require faith in God when we do not see the final outcome as He does.
There are people who do not like change at all. They work to keep things as status quo as they can. However, life does not usually work like this. Life is filled with changes. Sometimes different stages of life are referred to as seasons. “This is the season of life I am in right now.” I have heard people say this after describing what is going on in their life. I believe I have said this as well. So whether we want it or not, change will come into our lives.
In 2020, I made a change in my life. I retired from my job as a Probation Officer after working for Lubbock County for 20 years. I then started working at Broadway as the Physical Plant Minister. This was a big change for me as I had not worked in a similar position before. However, it felt like it was the right change for me and my family and it has been such a blessing to us. Now I won’t say I was completely confident in my abilities to handle things from the start because that is not true. I had some doubts and may still have some from time to time. This is where faith comes in. You have to have faith that God leads you where you need to be at the time you need to be there. And that he has prepared you for this even when you did not know that is what he was doing. For example, when I was in college, I worked with my father running telephone cable in new buildings. He was a co-owner of a communications business at the time and they were hired to set up the new office phone systems in a building. So I helped him install the phone lines. Never thought I would use that again in my life. I found out within the past year or so how handy that skill has become. I have been running cables at Broadway for cameras on several occasions now. Using the knowledge I had from some odd years ago (the exact number of years is not important). Never realized then that God was using that time to prepare me for later in life.
I believe this occurs throughout our life. God prepares us for the different seasons in our lives by giving us different experiences at different times. So if you go through something that seems tedious or meaningless at the time, just be patient. It may end up of being a useful tool to you at some point in the future.
This is just one example of how God prepares you ahead of time and it’s not anything earth shattering. However, we are not all called to do earth shattering things. We are called to serve in the capacity God has planned for us. The thing to realize is that every person plays an integral part in the work God wants to get done. We touch people’s lives differently and in different ways. So keep changing and maintaining your faith. You are playing out an important part in God’s plan.
