11.16.2006

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Hey everyone,

There has been so much going on lately that I am unsure of where this Weekly will go. My apologies of this one seems a little scatter-brained.
God is amazing, in so many different ways, and I just have been floored with how good He is.
This may come as a suprise for some of those that go to my church, but this past Sunday was the last service I will be attending... not forever, as I will come back and visit, but it's time for me to start transitioning. This transition is hard, believe me. It is so easy to be resistant to change, but you know, change is not a bad thing. In fact, if change weren't essential to growth (physically as well as spiritually), then we would all be in a mess of trouble. Right? Think about how much we would not have learned if our circumstances did not change at all. We wouldn't be forced to get out of our comfort zone and take on challenges put before us, learning perhaps in a stumbling sort of way to adapt to our new circumstances.
Getting ready to move sometime in the near future (not sure when) means a LOT of change. Looking for a new church means a lot of change too, and new people to connect with. I won't be able to see my friends or church family very often... and that's a hard truth to accept. Like I mentioned above, it would be so easy to resist this kind of change. But, this is God given. Any new circumstance forces us to grow -- and I don't know if you've noticed, but I think that God is the kind of God that likes to see us grow. Just like an earthly mother or father likes to see their child grow and mature, so the same is with our heavenly Father. We are His children, and we've all got to mature somehow.

So, what is the point of this Weekly? What am I getting at? Honestly, this email is very very different than any other Weeklies because I'm on the cusp of uncertainty and excitement, just waiting to see what God has in store for me next. There are so many new and different things coming into my life that I am just at a loss of words (and yet I seem to have so much to say).
I suppose the point is to assure you, as my brothers and sisters in Christ, that any change in your life that has the appearance of the negative doesn't have to be taken negatively. There are certainly real things in our lives that will break our hearts and cause us some degree of pain. These things grow us too, and through that pain we can still praise the Lord for whatever it is He is trying to teach us. It may not be until after the change has happened that we can praise Him for what He taught us, but that's okay. There are also changes that are just really hard to get through, but they're still good because they stretch our faith in ways that we could never have been stretched without it.
Call me a persistant optimist, if you like; I know I can be, but it's because God is so amazing. Pray that I can keep that kind of focus when the real hard times come knocking on my door - and they will come. There is a time for everything, good and bad, and our attitude and response to these can either give to our growth or take away from it. Really, it comes to how we choose to respond. Will we acknowledge the Lord for the very good things, and also the very bad? I hope so. I hope He gives us all the strength to kneel before His grace and say, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord," regardless of what is happening in our lives.

I pray that each of one of us, as God's beloved sons and daughters, will learn and grow continually. I ask that the Holy Spirit refine us more and more into the likeness of Christ, so that when in all circumstances we can praise the Lord for His goodness. I also pray that the Lord would bring things into our lives that DO teach us, and do cause us to be stretched in our faith in such a way that we can understand and love Him more. In addition to this, I pray that we would always bear with one another in love and forgiveness, knowing that each of us are under construction.

In love and in Him,
your sister,
Yvonne