All great changes are preceded by chaos” – Deepak Chopra

“You must welcome change as the rule, but not as your ruler.” – Denis Waitley

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” – Socrates

Everyone of us faces change in our lives.  As Denis Waitley reminds us, those changes seem to come a little easier when we welcome them as the rule – acknowledging they are an imperative tenet of life in this world.

Change is one thing, but what about a change that is life-altering?  What about dealing with a change that changes everything?

I’ve personally lived through this kind of change years ago, but lately I have seen it surface in the lives of the people I know and love.

The cancer diagnosis is change enough, but then finding out the exhaustive treatments aren’t working.  The cancer is growing and incurable.  Seeing your mortality so vividly and so intimately has altered your life day to day in ways that are hard to express – making it extra hard on your loved ones as they watch you face it with uncertainty.

The car accident that took a vibrant, energetic life and sentenced it to a wheelchair.  The activities and passions of running, hunting, and hard, physical work are now memories.  Limited mobility has changed those things permanently.

The spouse who left one day and never returned – abandoning you and your family for a whole new life of their own.  You had your life all planned out – the kid’s graduations, the retirement, the vacations and family gatherings with children and grandchildren.  Those dreams are impossible now – tainted and destroyed.

The death of a mate that is not only difficult to grieve but changes financial stability to a point where it is simply impossible to make ends meet.  You suffer the emptiness of the loss as well as the loss of security that came with it.  Circumstances are such that you must live with the new set of consequences – unable to rectify or change them on your own.

The divorce you didn’t see coming, the unexpected pregnancy of a young girl or a woman late in her life, a passionate love that is no longer viable or feasible, or the fiery dream that has been permanently extinguished – these are all examples of a 180 degree shift in direction, a kind of change that takes us to places we never intended to go.

How do you respond under such circumstances?

LOOK BEYOND THE CURRENT CHAOS

As humans, we tend to immerse ourselves in the feelings and emotions of the moment – thinking they will hold a constant presence in our lives from the initiation of the change moving forward.  This is even more prevalent when it comes to change that is both sudden and moves us 180 degrees from the direction we were heading originally.

I remember when this kind of change happened in my own life.  I ruminated in the unfairness of it all.  I extended the suffering I was experiencing by planting myself in the middle of the chaos created by the drastic changes.  Every day I lamented over them – playing the life-altering shift and its seemingly negative effects over and over again in my mind.

Little did I realize the wisdom found in Deepak Chopra’s quote above – that chaos paves the way for GREAT, profound change.  If only at the time I had the wisdom to see the chaos as a prerequisite to the wonderful things awaiting me down the road.

The greater the shift in direction, the greater, more positive impact those changes have on your destiny.  The intensity of the chaos and emotions surrounding the change are congruent to the intensity of the growth and renewal you will experience as the change unfolds.

Small changes come with insignificant growth.  GREAT changes have a much deeper meaning connected to your legacy and created purpose.  Look beyond the intense, immediate discomfort and envision the beautiful revelations that await you as you travel a whole new direction – one that is predestined and filled with deep, unseen intention.

REALIZE THAT ALL CHANGE IS TEMPORAL

Another normal part of our humanity is to look at the finite aspects of an earthly life – seeing time as something that is limited and scarce.  This perceived scarcity leaves us feeling cheated and robbed of the life we desired.  We see the drastic change as permanent – its effects unending.

But we are not restricted to this earthly life.  Our lives go well beyond this world – making all changes we experience temporary and transitory.

“What do you know about tomorrow?  How can you be so sure about your life?  It is nothing more than a mist that appears for only a little while before it disappears.” – James 4:14 CEV

“We are like a puff of wind; our days are like a passing shadow.” – Psalm 144:4 GNT

If you are currently experiencing the kind of change that changes everything my friend, think deeply about the change you’re experiencing within the context of eternity.  Even a change as profound as death has no lasting effect.

Your life may be taking a 180 degree turn, but it keeps moving and changing – new directions, new courses, and new places that ultimately align you with your created purpose.  Your purpose and journey only begin here.  They never end here.

The divorce, the lost love, the broken dream, the incapacitating handicap, and the terminal illness cannot and will not change you forever 😊  There is so much more to your life than the drastic change you are currently experiencing! 

GOD IS IN THE CENTER OF ALL LIFE-ALTERING CHANGES

How you view change is directly connected to how you view God. 

People with a limited understanding of who God is or those who don’t believe in a God at all see change through the lens of fate. You are either lucky or unlucky.  Your life is either going well or going in the wrong direction.  They see life as finite, thus any drastic change can become devastating.

But when you know God for who He really is, you see the changes in a different light.  You realize He is in control of each one (Psalm 103:19), that He is working out His purposes through them (Isaiah 46:10), and that all His actions and allowances are driven by His great love for each of us (Jerimiah 29:11 and 31:3).

You hold fast to the fact that He will walk with you as you face them (Psalm 23:4 and Matthew 28:20) never leaving your side as you deal with their aftermath.  He even promises to give us wisdom and direction in the midst of them (Jerimiah 33:2-3 and James 1:5) helping us to see the greater purposes that lie within them.

NOTHING with God is random!  When change in your life changes everything, never forget the truth that God is in the middle of EVERYTHING (Proverbs 15:3 and Psalm 147:5) ensuring all is working together for your good (Romans 8:28)

I pray tonight that if changes in your life have seemed to change everything for you, that you realize God is seated and fixed in the very center of them.  That unexpected, 180 degree turn you just made, has been known by Him since the beginning of time.  That change was allowed to enter your life not by fate, but by a grand purpose that is ultimately centered in His great love for you 😊

Great, meaningful changes come with intense chaos initially.  Have the courage and faith to look past the effects of the immediate turmoil – knowing that better and greater things lie ahead for you.

Remember that all changes are only temporary.  See them in the context of a life that moves through eternity – governed by a God whose character is driven by fairness, justice, and loving kindness.

If everything has changed, move closer to a God who never changes, and you will begin to see that change differently.

May God bless you now and always!