Are You Prepared for Change?

I dislike change. I really do. I like everything to stay the same. I enjoy predictability.

Well, I used to dislike change and enjoy predictability. Lately, however, I have been feeling a strong urge to make a big change—what that change is, I don’t know. I have prayed about it, and I feel like the Lord is leading me to something, I just can’t see it clearly yet. I feel like there is a huge brick wall blocking my view, keeping whatever big thing the Lord has for me just out sight and out of reach. The word “move” keeps bouncing around in my mind, but with no clear direction. Move physically? Move mentally? What? All I know is there is something that I am supposed to do in faith, but every time I get close to identifying it, the door to understanding closes. So what am I supposed to do? Why can’t I figure out what to do when I clearly feel the direction to do something?

It has taken me months of frustration and prayer to realize that I am supposed to take this time to learn and prepare. I am not ready for the “big thing” yet.

I love to learn, so a learning time is a gift to me. If you are in the same place I am—frustrated, stuck, blocked—I want to encourage you to accept that you might be in a season of learning and growth. We all should be lifelong learners, no matter our season of life, and we should especially be lifelong learners in a spiritual sense.

For example, we should never stop digging into Scripture. It is God’s words to us. He reveals himself in the pages. No matter how many times you read the Bible, the Lord will speak to you in a new way. My grandfather, who passed away last year at the age of eighty-six, was preacher and he studied his Bible every day. Even though he could quote verse after verse from memory, he studied his Bible until Parkinson’s disease left him unable to do so. He was a great example for all of us. Never stop learning.

While the Lord’s ways can seem mysterious and incomprehensible to us at times, he is a God of order and of purpose and plan for his children. Look at just two verses of many about God’s plans in the Bible. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose,” Romans 8:28 (NIV) and “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future,” Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV). I know these verses may seem overused and even trite, but really read them. This is what the Lord is saying directly to us. It is personal. He will direct my path. He will direct your path. He works things for my good, for your good. We don’t know the good he has in store for us. We can’t possibly wrap our heads around everything the Lord can do, but we can be thankful that he allows us to participate. So when you just want that brick wall to move, and you just want to be unstuck, don’t give into frustration. Use the time while you are being blocked to prepare for what is ahead. Time to prepare for change is a gift.

The Lord has a plan for you. Be open to his plan and what he wants you to learn before you move forward.

Dana Herndon is a writer and blogger as well as an elementary and middle school teacher. She and her husband live in Georgia with their three children. In addition to teaching and writing, Dana loves to read, watch Food Network and HGTV, follow politics, and paddleboard. She blogs at danaherndon.com.

Photograph © Jason Blackeye, used with permission