This is a season of a lot of change. It’s nothing new though, right? Aren’t we always experiencing some sort of change. This is a season of a lot of appointments and decisions. A season of a lot of communicating and miscommunicating. A season of inspections and contracts and repairs. A season of spreadsheets and calculating. We are selling our home and building another one. To do that it looks like we will be moving up the mountain temporarily, for about a year, to live in our first home so we don’t have to pay rent on something down here. We still own it and have been renting it out but have had it empty for a few months as we have been trying to sell it also.  We haven’t been able to sell it so that seems to be a provision from the Lord so we can move in there after this house down here sells. It’s a lot to think through logistically. Thankfully the Lord is working out my heart spiritually as well. Logistics are good and necessary but I am holding them with an open hand as I cling tight to the God who is in control.

I listed out all of the changing circumstances. All that it affects. All the responsibilities and roles that would change. The “to-do” list of change, who I needed to contact, what I needed to do. I wanted to write out scripture beside each thing, God’s truths to help me counter the list that was growing in my head. But instead I deleted it all and just started writing out who HE is. Focusing only on Him. His attributes.

He is unchanging. No matter what changes around me, He doesn’t. He says “For I the Lord do not change.” Malachai 3:6. Hebrews 13:8 tell us Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. It is grounding and comforting to know that!

He is the vine. No matter where I move, no matter how the community around me changes,  I can cling to Him. I cannot do any of this without Him. Galatians 2:20 says I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. Indwelling in me and empowering me. The community and support around me may change, but Christ in me does not!

He is sovereign. Everything is according to the counsel of His will. These verses about Him have probably been one of the biggest comforts to me. “In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will” Ephesians 1:11. In Acts 20:27 Paul says he preached the “whole counsel of God”. God is sovereign over the whole plan of my life and the lives of those around me. He brings it to fullness and completion through “creation, election, redemption, justification, adoption, conversion, sanctification, holy living, and glorification”. (MacArthur Study Bible). There is nothing happening in my life that can’t be used for one of these previous things mentioned. It is part of His plan. It has eternal purposes. The whole counsel of His Word tells me that. The changing circumstances aren’t what it is important, but how it is changing me and those around me is what is important. 

He is all knowing, “The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens; by his knowledge the deeps broke open and the clouds drop down the dew.” Proverbs 3:19-20.  His wisdom is perfect, His wisdom created everything, His wisdom sustains everything. James tells us to ask God for that wisdom, to be doers of that wisdom He has given us through His Word and the Holy Spirit guiding us. I trust God’s wisdom. In His all-knowing infinite wisdom He orchestrated this change. I trust that.

Initially this move isn’t my favorite thing. Honestly not having regular time with my church family will be the hardest part. But change doesn’t need to produce instability or shifting ground or doubt. I can still have assurance amidst change. I have assurance in who God is and because of that I don’t need assurance in my comfort or preferences.

He is my firm foundation. He is my rock. He is my never-changing, all-knowing, all-sufficient, all-powerful, always has been always will be creator, sustainer, redeemer, deliverer and provider. He is my overflowing fountain of water, my well that never runs dry. He is my light of hope that never can be hidden. He IS God. HE is God. He is GOD. A 66 mile move up a mountain, a change in school for my daughter, a commute for my husband, a laying down of commitments, and backing down from a few responsibilities doesn’t change who He is, what He does, why I’m here, and how it all plays out. I have assurance amidst change. A friend (@wellnesswitness) reminded me this week that this circumstance is producing something in me that nothing else could. God has said for me to make a conscious commitment and choice to face it with joy because I KNOW and believe all of these truths. 

What blessed assurance that is! Assurance amidst change can allow me freedom to be excited for what’s ahead. Assurance amidst change can help me perceive His presence and His hand in all that is happening around me. Assurance amidst change can help me keep a right perspective. Assurance amidst change can turn grumbling and frustration into praise and thanksgiving. Assurance amidst change can turn fear of the future into praise for HIS plan. Now instead of making a list of all the things this move will change that I might not like and how I need to deal with it, I can make a list of all the positive provision this will be for our family and ANTICIPATE the good and healthy sanctifying work this will do instead of project a negative attitude on the situation. 

Join me in praising the God that never changes! Join me in believing He will supply all we need as a gift of sanctification. I can see this as something I NEED, not just something to get through. I can see this as a provision on so many levels that will produce a strength in my faith, my marriage, my children, and my ministry. As we prepare for this move I am aware that this could all fall through and a new plan be put in place. I am also aware that as I write this out, tomorrow I could wake up facing anxiety all over again. That is why I am writing it. That is why I will go back to His Word over and over. My house, my life, needs to be built on faith in His saving grace and merciful provision as I live that out in repentance and obedience. Jesus Christ is who I look to for that. He has provided it all.  He alone is my assurance, the one thing that DOES NOT CHANGE.

“Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.” Luke 6:47-48.