Boy, have I had a chance to practice what I preach! I clearly had no idea when I put together the ABC’s of Seeing Change as an Opportunity to Grow that we had more change than Covid brought us coming our way! Our beautiful mountain community is under threat of fire, smoke, and worse.
There are folks in the surrounding area who have lost their homes and the fire continues to rage. I have been praying day and night for the firefighters, the EMS workers, for displaced anxious people, and especially for those who are suffering loss.
As you read this, please pray for all of us in these hills as we, too, pray, wait to see what the fire will do, and try to offer comfort and help for the folks impacted by all of this.
I pray that these tools can bring you peace in the midst of all the current chaos whether you are in the fire zone or not.
For the A and B of dealing with change, check my blog and this Facebook page respectively. C currently on our Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/answersfrommomanddad
Here’s D:
.D- Don’t isolate.
I heard one gal say, “You know you’re an introvert when there is a global quarantine, and your life doesn’t change any.”
During a global pandemic with the threat of death and disease and this incessant change is when we need each other more. God didn’t design us to go this life alone. And Jesus set the example by doing life in the community even with people who were far less than perfect.
Connect. You’re not alone! Call someone. Get together with proper protocols, but don’t isolate. We are better together.
E-Evaluate what’s important and prioritize that.
Find your priorities and choose constructive activities. The most resilient people see change as an opportunity rather than a monster to fear. Transitions in life allow us to consider our priorities. What really matters most in this world? How do you really want to spend your time?
Maybe this is the perfect time to invest in the devotional life you always wished you had. A close walk with the Lord can get us through even the toughest changes in our lives. He can bring good out of the trouble we are facing, and the better we know Him, the more we trust that to be true.
But Satan doesn’t want that to happen, and he will do anything he can to keep you from the closeness to Christ that you need and He desires.
I want to share this with you from the pen Samuel Brengle, an early officer in the Salvation Army born in the 1860s.
“Once when I knelt for morning prayers I felt a sort of deadness in my soul, and just then the ‘accuser of the brethren’ became busy reminding me of things that had long since been under the blood.”
I cried to God for help, and the blessed Comforter reminded me that my great High Priest was pleading my case; that I must come boldly to the throne of grace. I did and the enemy was routed.”
To rout an enemy means to defeat them thoroughly, to stampede them. We can stampede Satan the enemy of our souls and his minions with our prayers. Can I get an Amen!
When times of change hit roll in and we find ourselves moving from change to uncertainty to stress, we don’t have to circle the drain. We don’t need to be subject to Satan rubbing our past mistakes in our when and making us feel worse when we are already insecure.
We can press into the Lord and find peace.