With all due respect to the great Winston Churchill, change is the worst. Lately, every time the subject has come up, I’ve wanted to run away. My belief that, as Mary Shelley says, “nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change,” is further solidified every time even the smallest shift occurs in my life.
I hate change. Always have, and probably always will. It’s usually difficult, often scary, and rarely any fun. Even contemplating a really good change terrifies me. Just writing the word so many times in a row has me feeling ill.
Weirdly, the toughest changes for me to handle are the ones that should be really exciting. When I graduated from high school, I cried while everyone else threw their graduation caps in the air. When I returned home after Cameron and I got engaged, I sat on my bathroom floor and sobbed. I was happy and excited and knew he was the one I wanted to be with for the rest of my life, but I was overwhelmed. I was about to move far away from my home and family. Life as I knew it was about to change in a really big way and I didn’t know how to process this.
In both cases, once I gave myself time to adjust and learned to grow where I was planted, I never looked back. In hindsight, I don’t think I’ve ever regretted any of the changes I’ve chosen to make – except for some awful hairstyle choices in elementary and middle school (thanks mom).
As I’ve gotten older, and hopefully wiser, I’ve come to realize change isn’t the scary monster I sometimes make it out to be. Of course, some kinds can be more difficult than others, especially when they aren’t ones I would’ve picked for myself. In these kinds of situations, I’m comforted to know I’m not alone. As Deuteronomy 31:8 says, “It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” I’m so thankful God clearly tells us here and throughout Scripture that He is with us always. All we have to do is trust in Him. In theory, it’s an easy concept to understand; to put it in practice- not so much. In other words, I’m a work in progress. Thank goodness God doesn’t require us to be perfect before we come to Him.
Change is a fact of life, yet so is God’s sovereignty. Perhaps if I can remember this the next time a change occurs, I can skip the stress and rest in the fact that with God, it is well with my soul, no matter what.
