“Wait . . . you’re telling me that you learned about this yesterday and you have to start tomorrow?” I could hear my friend’s shock through the phone.
Her question was like a lightbulb illuminating why — or at least partly why — I was so anxious about this big change happening in my life. I hadn’t been able to put my finger on it until my friend put my feelings into words, but she nailed it. The suddenness of the change was just as stressful and concerning to me as the enormity of the change.
That was two weeks ago, and yes, I did make a big change suddenly.
Then this morning, I watched as my (not so) tiny little baby girl got on the bus that would take her to middle school. How? I kept asking. How did this happen? How did we get here, and so fast, too?
And my other child? My oldest daughter? Well, she had the nerve to begin her senior year of high school — something I find both shocking and offensive, as I’m pretty sure I just graduated from high school myself a moment ago.
As you can see, we’re going through quite a lot of changes at my house. And whether we’ve spent years coming to these forks in the road or we literally got a call on Tuesday and jumped into something new on Friday, the change has felt overwhelming. Knowing a big-deal change is coming and having time to prepare (and worry) is hard. Being surprised with a necessary change and having to pivot (and panic) is hard, too. Both are hard, and we’re doing both.
Adjusting to change is a process. (Perhaps now is the time for me to confess that it took me nearly 18 months to adjust to working full-time outside my house after a decade of freelancing from home?) But just like every other season and situation we face in life, we can take comfort and find confidence in knowing that God is with us.
As I was working through all my tangled-up feelings about these changes, I reached for an answer in the one place that never fails me. I turned to God’s Word.
I turned to several bookmarked and underlined passages I’ve leaned on for decades. I also Googled “Bible verse about God never changing.” Both tactics, however, failed to provide the comfort and confidence I was seeking — at least initially. Instead, I began to spiral a bit as I realized that my go-to verses had been taken out of context or even misinterpreted by well-meaning teachers. To be honest, they’d been taken out of context and misinterpreted by me more than once!
Please hear me: Those verses (the ones you’re likely thinking of now) aren’t wrong. But context matters. And realizing I needed to consider so much more than a few helpful words meant I wasn’t getting the quick shot of encouragement I expected.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to spiral completely into despair, because I shared my frustration with a friend who reminded me of another truth. When the Bible doesn’t give us the exact words we’re looking for (or the ones we’ve been taught by trusted leaders and feel so deeply in our souls suddenly fall flat), we aren’t left without an anchor or foundation. What we’re searching for isn’t necessarily wrong. We just need to look again.
My friend went on to point out examples of the way we can see God’s constant character from Genesis to Revelation to today. We see His love and compassion through His interactions with Moses and the Israelites, and we see it in the person of Jesus as He answers question after question from the disciples, and responds to desperate request after desperate request from those who need healing and protection.
I listened to her talk and felt a weight lift from my shoulders. I blew out a big breath and exclaimed, “Of course!”
When changes come — sudden or slow, massive or minute, desired or dreaded — we can find comfort and confidence in our knowledge that God never changes. We still know this by reading verses like, “I am the Lord, and I do not change” (Malachi 3:6 NLT) — and the truth remains even after considering the context of God’s full message to His prophet about judgment, repentance, and mercy.
We see God’s unchanging character in the ways He demonstrates His love and care throughout the Old Testament, and from the way Jesus, God in the flesh, demonstrates that very same love and care through His lifetime. We know that God never leaves us, no matter what is going on around us, because we see Him stand with David and Joshua and Moses and Elijah and Ruth — and we see Jesus assure the disciples that the Holy Spirit will come in His absence, that He will not leave us alone. (Read John 14:15-31 NIV.)
Finally, when change comes — knocking on our door and threatening to knock us off our feet — we can remember the ways God has been a steady presence in our lives before. We can recall the ways He has shown us love and offered us peace, and in that find comfort and encouragement.
Are you trying to wrap your mind around a sudden change? Or perhaps you’ve been dreading the end of a season or the beginning of a new one, and now the time is here to face the reality you never wished for. Maybe what’s thrown you for a loop is even a good change, one you’ve prayed for or pursued — and yet you still find yourself struggling to process the way things are simply different than the way they used to be.
No matter what change you’re walking through right now, take comfort in knowing God is with you and He is a steady, everlasting, loving Father who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
I am not really sure if I prefer to be taken by surprise with a change or have advance knowledge of an upcoming change. Either way, it is so unsettling and stressful and causes such anxiety until I remember to let God be God and do what God does best. It doesn’t always happen quickly but eventually the “aha” moment happens.
Thankyou . I am in that storm . Age 76 and hubby 78 . We had 3 weeks notice to move from our daughters basement as they didn’t want our Christian influence now on their 10 and 14 yr old kids that we had been looking after as well as paying hi rent . Finances made us move from BC across Canada to Nova Scotia in June and it’s culture shock as well as heartache . We couldn’t find rental so had to purchase a house with lots of problems . My car 1998 didn’t make their safety rules re rocker panel and no body worker could do till next January snd my insurance ran out in BC for september – we had to get another . It’s a stormy time in Our life too . But God is our Captain the best and will guide us thru the storm one day. Thanks for the assurance today .
Dear Cheryl………..I understand how unhappy and hurt you and your husband must feel. I am 78 years old next week. I am praying for you and your family that our Lord will somehow get you out of this frightening time as I pray for myself. I always need to remind myself that God works on his own timeline and the wait can be painful too. We will get through this, Cheryl….Betsy B.
Dear Mary……….Your devotional was very well written and something that I could understand. I am dreading to start a new season, a big one that pushes me back to happier days, otherwise I would sit and cry.There have already been 3 serious and frightening changes that I have prayed and prayed and prayed, and I know that is what God wants us to do, but some required a too quick time frame and the other one is still going on after 5 years and many prayers and tears. The season that has started a dark one. My birthday starts with my birthday next week where I will be 78. Then all the holidays that follow up to Christmas and New Years Eve (my 58 year old beloved father died that day ) many years ago, but he was my best friend, my supporter and loved me deeply. I was only 23 at the time and my mother did not tell me what was really wrong with him until the day before his operation and it was a deadly disease. I asked her why she did not tell me, but she did not answer so I decided right there on the spot I was going with her and tell work I couldn’t come in that day. I stood with my mother as the surgeon explained it and I was totally ready to fall down. I said to him, “Are you saying my father is going to die?” and he said “Yes”. My mother asked me to call the relatives and tell them. I didn’t know how to do this, but my Holy Spirit nudged me to in order to help my mother who was in disbelief as I was. I knew he would be with God as he was a very spiritual man, but at the time, I hate to admit that it did not make me feel much better. That was in October and he died New Years Eve so we had very little time to spend with him and he was suffering. You know, Mary, this may sound stupid, but when I returned to work, I walked through the door and everyone was joking and laughing and what went through my mind? How can they be so happy when I just lost my father? They all had both of their parents and my mother was only 49 years old. As years went by more and more things occurred that took me back to the dark season. My husband I noticed that is mind was waning and at that time we were married 54 years. He would not listen to the neurologists and said they were wrong, it was just old age, the doctors told me that specific type of dementia, only people that lived with him 24/7 would be able to recognize this and they said he should feel happy that I did see it as there were 2 medications he could take to slow the progress of this horrible disease, but he also had to stop immediately drinking any kind of alcohol as this would negate the meds. Of course, I knew he would not do it as I suspected that he was also an alcoholic and it turned out he did. My one child, a son, called me and told me I was lying about all this and he never would consider me his mother and I would never be allowed to see or talk to me ever again. He was 11 at the time and is now 15. No communication from either and I remain heartbroken and wonder what I did. There is so much more to this dark season but it is too long. I will just say my husband would drink all day and every night for the 3+ years I stayed with him he abused me and hurt me terribly physically and emotionally until April, 2022, he tried to kill me, but this time and I know Jesus helped me here to finally got my 911 call through. She taped everything and sent the police. All of his doctors and the police and all of my support groups that called me every day to see if I was all right said I had to stop trying to convince my husband he was ill and start thinking about my own safety. His doctors said I needed to get him out of the house before he did kill me and 5 minutes later forgot that he was the one who did that. So I had to take steps to do this, and then I had to sell our house of 40 years as we both needed money for the 2 facilities we moved to. A divorce followed as they told me I could never live with him without fear. He is still an alcoholic and still has dementia rages. The divorce has dragged on for 5 years. There is so much more, but too much to take up your time, Mary. One last thing, 2 weeks ago my son emailed me with the most horrible, evil email and called me a street, drug addict, a wh***, a liar and should be in a mental institution among so many curse words and much more. My now Ex husband made all these things up and told him and he actually believed him. To make things worse, my son nor my husband or daughter-in-law have no souls or faith or belief and called me something I can’t even put in this email. My Holy spirit is always here to guide me and whisper messages from the Lord, but I am scared that I won’t live long enough to see any of these awful things resolved. I need to at least talk to my grandson to explain my will as he will be getting a lot of money. Mary, sorry to take up so much of your time, but I am alone and I am in a Senior Facility where the people here, I could never go through all of this as they are all hard of hearing and have some form of dementia and at times I have to get it out as my mind keeps going back when I sit in my apartment. Thank you Mary for your wonderful words that made me think more of what good things I do have. Please have a blessed week and I send to you my love for caring about those of us that have these dark seasons. You women at (in)courage are I feel are angels sent to us by God to encourage us with your stories and give us ways to help ourselves that we have not been able to think about in the way we are living right now…………………………Betsy Basile
Hello Mary and others,
As Madeline stated, I agree, not sure whether I would prefer the sudden or the advance notice kind of change.
They both can come with challenges. They both can be scary. At the same time, though, both can also bring a time of personal growth – perhaps physically, emotionally, or even spiritually. Holding on to memories of God’s constant presence is so important. Or if memories “seem” bad in a sense – it’s good to hold on to stories of God’s presence that we read in the Bible.
Thank you for sharing and the reminder we are all in this together under one awesome God.
God Bless.
Thank you, Mary, for this reminder. I too am in a big change in my life. I recently lost my Mom (my Dad passed many years ago), and I feel so lost. Not a lot of things make sense anymore. Even going to church (which is going through some massive changes) I find unsettling. There is comfort in the familiar, especially when you’re grieving. God is my only constant, Never changing. My Hope. God’s word and His Spirit Never change. Jesus, my Best Friend knows all things. I pray for all of you that are going through changes you have no control over and that we can rest in the loving and strong arms of Jesus.