Change=Growth

I love the thought of change because change means growth and that is always good, not always easy but always good for sure. I love when God puts things in our hands that we think we could never handle, things we never thought we could do; yet through Him anything is possible and He loves to use us in our weakness. Change causes us to step out of our comfort zones and reevaluate our lives or some aspect of it, we don't always enjoy this time because it means we can't just run on auto-pilot we actually have to think about what we are doing. We don't always enjoy a challenge when it means our own lives are being challenged down to the very core of who we are and what we believe.


The enemy loves these times of challenge and change because they produce moments of weakness and instability in our hearts and minds that may not be there on a regular basis. He loves to use these times to plant seeds of doubt and fear and unbelief in our hearts, it's our job to rely on God alone and not allow those seeds to take root and spread in our hearts and souls. These times are also some of the biggest times of spiritual growth and depth because we are more reliant on God than ever. It's amazing to watch and see how God can use any situation for His good in the end, He can take anything you offer Him and make it work for His Kingdom. The biggest, dumbest mistakes in our lives can turn into the most monumental victories for Him, the story of something going from worst to best because of God is a story of triumph and a powerful testimony of His immense love for His children.


The valleys in life, the low moments, the times when you feel like your whole world is falling apart around you and you don't know what to do except throw up your hands and cry out to God; He loves those times because you are finally completely reliant on Him. The goal is to learn and grow from these experiences so that you realize that God will always take care of you, you can always rely on Him, no matter how terrible things seem He has a plan and it will work for the good. What seems like an eternity to us is the blink of an eye in the scheme of things, just remember when you are in your lowest moments that God will get you through it and you will look back and think what a small insignificant amount of time it actually was.


I really hate how I allow myself to become stressed about things of this world, I allow myself to lean on my own understandings and in my insufficiency I can't seem to find the answers, I am struggling to stay above water, and really all I need to do is rely on Him. When I rely on Him I find myself filled with peace in the most stressful situations that would have normally caused me to feel like the end of the world was near, God works best in our lives when we put our faith and hope in Him alone. Don't put your hope in this or that specific thing happening, put your hope in His faithfulness, His goodness, His love because those things never fail and in the end those things have your best interests at heart. When we put our hope in things or actions that are dependent on our will and human nature we are almost always disappointed but when we put our hope in Him and depend on Him and His will we can never be disappointed because we only want what He has for us, even if we don't always understand it.


It is a daily struggle to put this kind of faith in Him, I am a planner, I like to know all the answers, I like to know all the variables so I can create the best possible plan of action. God has really been working on me and giving up that illusion of control because I don't know everything, I don't have all the answers, in fact I don't have any of the answers. He told me there will be obstacles in my life and I don't need to know what they are because if I know I will just try to solve them, He wants my complete faith not my flawed plans and ideas. So I'm doing my best every day to patiently wait upon Him, His timing, His will, and to not let my faith waiver. I have to remind myself all the time that He will handle it and everything will be ok, I start to get nervous when I don't see certain things falling into place when I think they should, God isn't on my time constraints and I have to quit trying to put Him into my boxes of possibility.


Change causes growth and increases our faith and strength in Him. So, I love change, it's not always fun or easy when I'm going through it but the Lord comes through like He promises, like He always does. He never fails me and I look back and laugh at the things I worried about, I laugh at the stress I placed on myself. I have to remind myself, this is God we are talking about not any one of a million people in my life that either have or will disappoint me; He never fails, He is perfect! Thank you Father for being the one thing we can always count on, the one thing that never changes, never fails, always loves, always protects, thank you for being you. Forgive me for being me in my fallen, imperfect, human, sinful nature. Help me to rely more and more on you and less and less on myself. I pray for your will to be mine and your heart to be mine, I want only what you have for me even when it's not easy, even when I can't plan it all out, even when I don't have any of the answers. I put my faith and hope in you alone. I love you Father!


In Christ's Love,
Reed Eden