Have you ever found yourself in the middle of a different season in life? Maybe you just graduated and are embarking on a new journey professionally. Maybe you just became a parent for the first time. Maybe you find yourself in a place you don’t love so you know change is necessary.
For me, the last 10 months have been constant change personally, professionally, academically, physically, and spiritually. Literally, every area of my life was uprooted and derailed from my norm. Most of the time, I am someone who enjoys and encourages change. But this time, this much so close to each other, I kind of lost it. I would love to tell you I was successful in navigating the change and felt empowered the entire time. The truth is, more than anything I felt lost and forgotten by God. I couldn’t understand why He was doing all He was, and even now some days it isn’t easy for me to accept all the change. But the two things that have sustained me through this season are #1 God is not surprised by anything that has happened and #2 He will use it all to make His name famous and me more like Him in the process.
That first truth, God is not surprised, was one I have spoken to friends and family over and over as they have faced their own life crisis moments. Work is up in the air? God is not surprised. Family is disappointed? God is not surprised. Friends have left? God is not surprised. Nothing that happens, good or bad, beautiful or ugly is a surprise to God. Nothing under the sun or in heaven is beyond His knowledge, grasp, or comprehension. So that means whatever is going on with you, wherever circumstance you find yourself facing, God is not surprised. And knowing He is not surprised (even if I am!) has brought a comforting peace to me more times over the last year than I can count. He cares for me so much that He sees these things going on and knows them inside out. Loss, lack of joy, frustrations at work, physical limitations and ailments, loneliness. None of it escapes His notice or His love.
The second, however, has been a bit more difficult for me to swallow over the past year. I have seen tragedy and heartbreak, pain and suffering. And while I have constantly asked WHY GOD, this response always finds me, “He will use it all for His glory and my good.†Many, many days I could not humble myself enough to accept this response. I saw with human eyes our distorted definition of love and could not place what I call a loving God with that definition because He had allowed such painful things to happen. These two loves clashed against one another and wreaked havoc on my life for more days than I am proud to admit.
So, I have now come to a place in all of this change where I am tired of fighting and ready for renewal. I plan to spend the next 3 months of summer renewing myself, body, mind, and spirit. I have 5 specific goals in each of these areas. Here are a few examples to give you an idea of what I am I want to see happen over the next 100 days of summer:
- Body- complete 75 workouts, remove gluten and dairy from my diet
- Mind- advance knowledge by reading and writing new content (LESS TV!)
- Spirit- continue to work on implementing the practice of Sabbath into my life
After a season of wandering, I am praying these months of active renewal will get me back on track and draw me closer to God. I would say “back to normal†but I’m not sure I can go back. Afterlife throws you, I think you change as a person and going back to normal isn’t possible because you aren’t that person anymore. This could just be how I feel, but I know I am needing to seek and be appreciative of a new normal, inside and out. What area are you seeking renewal in? Do you have any goals associated with it? Share in the comments so we can encourage and uplift one another as we rise up from our current situations and work towards getting back on track!
