Trusting God in Times of Change

We all experience periods of change in our lives. Whether it's a new job, a change in our relationships or a move. We all have experience with periods of change to a greater or lesser extent. Transitions in our lives can be exciting and challenging, sometimes thrilling, or we may be full of anticipation for the new. But these periods can also bring feelings of loss and sadness.

Have you ever noticed that we can feel a bit uncertain in times of change? We lose our rhythm, our planning, our sense of predictability, our familiarity. Stress can also come from unexpected corners in times of change.

At work, for example, we are currently undergoing a period of change involving many systems. I was used to being able to quickly give a committee from outside our organisation a password for meetings. However, the system had changed and unfortunately I found out too late. Just before the meeting, I had to provide them with a password. Instead of two steps, I had to take one, two, three, four and another step! I got stuck at step four. The system was completely frozen. Now I always pray for the day ahead. And in the midst of the stress, a solution suddenly presented itself. Completely out of the blue, it turned out that they all had the documents for the meeting on their laptops. What a relief! That wasn't the norm. I love the passage in the Psalms that says that many are the troubles of the righteous, but the Lord saves them from all of them.

In times of transition, we need to trust in God's guidance. Times of change offer us the opportunity to realise where our roots lie and what we are rooted in. In times of change, we can live as the Bible says, ‘rooted and built up in Christ’.

When we think of roots, we often think of trees searching for water with their roots. The beauty of trees is that they can spread their roots in all kinds of different ways, allowing them to grow deeper. If the sand is grainy and soft, the roots go down. If the soil is hard, such as clay, the roots spread out to the sides. And in rocky soil, the roots seek out openings in the rocks to find water. I live in Rotterdam, where there are rivers. Close to where I live, there is a whole row of trees right next to a river, and in the ground you can see the thick roots that have spread out far and wide to reach the water. So even in times of change, we can trust God that wherever we are, the roots of our hearts can become more deeply rooted in Him.

Being rooted in Christ means that He Himself is our security. Therefore, as we go through periods of transition in life, we can embrace these periods with faith and hope. We can be open to the opportunities that God offers us. In every period of change, we can trust that God will work all things together for good.