Thursday, March 16, 2006

Am I nuts?

and I give you a paradox...

In my last post I stated, "Truthfully, in Christ, what is there to fear in change?".
What? am I nuts!?

Let's just make a list here....
1) The Unknown...
2) Loss of what has been
3) Pain

I find that over the course of my life I have come to trust more and more in the unfailing sovereignty of my Lord. He knows what He is doing and He does all things well, all things work together for good, to those that belong to Him, etc. etc. These are bedrock in my spirit, what I call The Immovables....but the pain, oh the loss and the pain of that loss. These are my achiles heels.
We embrace "good" change so readily...even though we have no idea where that road will take us. Still we do not question a pay raise, new aquisitions, a pleasant relationship. We think of them as 'blessings" ignoring the capacity they have to bring us pain. Yet every positive thing, event, person in our lives has the potential to bring us loss and pain. We discovered this a long time ago when we got our first puppy and then found it struck by a car in the street.... a dramatic change from life to death...from gain to loss, followed by the pain caused by that loss.


Today there is change going on all over the world, in my city, at my job, in my own home, within my own family. Some are exciting and wonderful, others are hard and painful. ....for some, joyous newness is beginning, for others, years of involvement and connection are ending....in each situation, what has been will be no more....there is great joy, great loss, and great pain.
A dear friend once told me that 95% of all the pain in life is caused by the holding on. I have found this to be true. God help us to walk through change with grace....to revel in the joy, suffer the loss, to breathe in Christ, and to let go in times of change and fall into His loving arms. Even in the pain, to simply walk on...without bitterness, without anger, accepting the change, embracing the newness, trusting that He is working Christ into our lives in all things.

What is there to fear in change?? Plenty....There will be loss, there will be pain... but I pray that God give me courage that I may say with Paul, "I count all things [but] loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them(but)dung, that I may win Christ."

God Bless you through the changes in your life.

5 comments:

Tammy said...

Yes...I believe there is fear in change...and that fear is mainly caused by us...but sometimes it is, in our humanness, so hard to trust and have faith, but God is ALWAYS in control. As Paul said in Philippians, "To live is Christ and to die is gain." So true.

Bar L. said...

YOu gave me an idea for a new post today :)

Can I add you to my links?

Kimber said...

Great post Cheryl...I think that the change that brings pain and loss or heartache is the hardest to overcome - but you are right - God is sooooooo faithful and even works it all out for our good in the end!!!

Thanks for the great post!

Scott said...

I plunged into deep thought over the idea that pain is caused by holding on. My goodness, but how true that really is. If I could just let go and accept the changes that my life has undergone, I would be literally pain free.

Gordon said...

This is a great post. You are so right about letting go and trusting in the sovereignty of God.

Thanks for this inspiration.