These are exciting and difficult times. Coming out of Promotion Sunday, I am mindful of how many of our families are going through significant change. Even this morning parents are posting about their children going off to school; some starting school for the first time,  some going into high school. Some are experiencing the real change of a child going away to college; maybe it is the first one, maybe it is the last one, maybe it is the only one.

Many of us are entering a new phase of life. In these seasons of transition, there are always the things we leave behind, and the new opportunities that lay ahead. It is important for us to be reminded that both are essential and necessary; all are valuable. Regardless of what our transition may look like, God wants to use this time of change to grow and mature our faith. Many of us are leaving something behind, something good that has given us a strong spiritual foundation. But now a new door has been opened, and God wants to grow you and use you in a new way to multiply His kingdom. He wants us to come to trust Him, and not our comfort zone of life. That is primarily what God wants to accomplish in our lives through this time of transition.

It is also important for us to remember that none are incidental, or accidental; all are providential. God is in control, and He is doing something in our life. He wants to change us through changing our circumstances. He is growing us, challenging us, drawing us to himself and pressing us into the image of His son. There are many things that we need to leave behind; old things, hinderances, that need to be put off so that we might press forward in Christ.

He also wants to use that change to multiply our influence, as He opens new doors and expands the reach of our ministry. I have told our students, “We are loosing good people, who are going off to college, but God is going to use them in their new fields of service and multiply His kingdom.” God uses it in our lives for His purposes, for the expansion of His kingdom, and for praise of His glory.

Many of us are entering a new phase of life. In these seasons of transition, there are always the things we leave behind, and the new opportunities that lay ahead. In all of this, we must ask ourselves, “are we being faithful?” It is important for us to be reminded of the essential nature of the things we leave behind, while at the same time, trusting that nothing is incidental, or accidental; God is in control, and He is doing something in our life. Will we be self-disciplined, or will we require discipline from God? God will do His good work in us, in spite of us. However, if we are submissive to the will of God, we will be moldable, teachable, humble, and sacrificial. We must repent of our sin, pride, and rebellion, lest we resist God growing us, challenging us, drawing us to himself and pressing us into the image of His son. God is in control, and uses these seasons of change in our lives, to transform and conform his people, to multiply the ministry of His kingdom, and to bring praise to His glory.

Here are three questions that we can ask ourselves to help us to think rightly about these times of transition. How can God use this season in my life to grow me spiritually? How can God use it to multiply my ministry for His glory? How can I honor God in what is left behind; what must I repent of and leave behind? How do I need to trust God as He changes my circumstances; what must I bring forward as a foundation; what door of opportunity is He opening before me?

grace and peace,

Reid Ward