Everything Changes

Everything changes.  We hear that all the time. 
The seasons are about to change. 
I am ready for a change. 
I gave you a dollar and all I got back was some change. 
Things are about to change around here.
Oh my how you've changed.
And then there's the lie.  "You haven't changed one bit."
Change, change, change, change, change.
I don't know about you but in general I don't like change.  I like things to stay the way they are, or at least I say I do. 
I don't like the fact that I am not the same size, the same energylevel, that I was 35 years ago.  But really, would I want to go back to being the same as I was at 17?  Oh Lord, no way!!!!
I was so young and naive.  Such a polyanistic point of view on life.  Not necessarily a bad thing but not necessarily a good thing either.  A wee bit ditzy.  I am so glad that somewhere along the line I grew up (and even out).  Change!
I don't like the fact that my babies grew up and out of my house.  I miss the laughter, the fights, the stories, the hugs, the tears.  I miss it all.  Every day.  But I am so glad that I raised three wonderful children or else I would not have ten of the most wonderful grandbabies in the world.  Change!
I miss getting up every day and going to a job where I was awesome!  (Hey, I am entitled to my own opinion)  Getting laid off in an economy where it has been over a year and I still have not found a job has not been a fun thing.  But I have been able to spend more time with my husband in the last year than I probably have in our whole marriage.  With raising kids and working such odd hours we never really had us time.  It has been nice for that.  But still...Change!
I look back on friends that I have had over the years.  Oh how we have grown.  Some friends/cousins that I have had over the years, some since birth, how we have made seperate lives over the years.  Not seeing each other for days, weeks, months and even years.  But when we do it is as if we never had been apart.  But coming together and catching up with each others lives only to seperate again, only then realizing, my how we have changed.  Maybe we don't see eye to eye on things like we did when we were younger but still we are there for each other.  Yet there was still that Change!
And brothers and sisters that I grew up with.  The siblings that I fought with and fought for.  I am so glad that we are not the same as we were when we were younger.  Oh Lord help our poor mother for all the grief that we must have put her through.  I am so glad that I could go to any one of them and know that they would have my back.  Would hold me up in prayer.  Would laugh and cry with me over any and everything.  I am so glad for that Change.
But honestly, to be truthful, I am happiest for the change that happened in my life when I made Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior.  I can look back and remember the way that I was.  I remember the grip that sin had on my life.  I remember the freedom I felt, the peace, when I realized that I needed to change.  When the Holy Spirit wooed me and I surrendered all.  All the heartache, the fear, the anger, not having any direction in my life, all that was gone. 
Am I perfect?  Oh, good heavens no!  Do I mess up?  Oh good heavens, all the time! Do I have fear and heartache?  Yes, yes I do!  Do I always know which direction my life should take?  Nope, never on a given day!
But, am I still happy that I let Jesus Change me?  Every single day.  You see, I am a work in progress.  He is still working on me.  He isn't finished with me yet.  He said "I know the plans I have for you."  Sometimes I know exactly what they are, sometimes I don't. 
I do know that there are things He would have me be doing.  The main one is the commandment, "Be kind to one another and so fulfill the law of Christ."  I can do that. 
He said, "Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men."  I can do that. 
He said, "Study to show thyself aproved."  I can do that. 
There are a lot of little things I can be doing becuase His word said to do so. 
So I get up in the morning and I say "What would you have me do today Lord?"  Maybe not exactly like that, but I do ask Him what I should be doing.  I set out to do it.  You see, I stand on His word that says "The steps of a rightous man (woman) are ordered of God."  Do I always succeed, nope.  That is the human part of me that is still getting worked on, but I do try. I try to listen for His still small voice.  The voice that speaks to my heart.  The one that is deep inside my knower and I try to answer like Samuel "Speak Lord for thy servant heareth."
I am so glad that when you look at me you don't see who I used to be in all my filthy rags but who I am today, a born again, spirit filled, daughter of God. And still I am changing, becoming what He wants me to be. 
I am so thankful to calvary, to the cross.  I am so thankful that I yielded to Jesus and am forever being changed, transformed from glory to glory by the one who never changes.
2 Corinthians 3:16-18