Life Changes

   There are times when we need to change the course of our life.  Some changes will be easy, others will be difficult.  Some of the changes we will make of our own free will.  In some cases they will be forced upon us.

   Sometimes changes are ones that we don’t want; changes that are painful and very difficult.  These are the times when it is hardest to give ourselves to God’s plan and accept the change He is asking of us.

   God told Noah to build an ark to save himself, his family and the many creatures God had created from the flood.  Man had become so evil in their actions that a new beginning was needed.  By following God’s plan Noah and his family were blessed to repopulate the earth.

   Abram was asked by God to leave his home and his family to journey to a land God promised him.  He responded by doing what God asked and was blessed, becoming the father of God’s chosen people.

   Jonah was told to go to Nineveh and preach repentance to the Ninevites.  He refused and ended up in the belly of the great fish.  Once saved from the fish, God again asked him to go to Nineveh.  This time he accepted God’s will and the Ninevites listened and were saved by his warnings.

   But what of the great change God sometimes demands of us?  Do we like Noah and Abram willingly accept the change or do we resist it as Jonah did?  St. Augustine, in his autobiographical “Confessions” wrote of the indecision in his life, “Lord, make me pure but not yet!”  We too, often pray to be holy or chaste, but we really don’t want it to happen all at once.  We want to ease into it, taking our time rather than responding to God’s call for change.

   There are times when our lives will require great change whether we are ready for it or not.  We may have no choice in some instances; the change is required by circumstances and we must adapt.  These unplanned, unavoidable, undesired changes challenge our faith and push us to either accept and live in God’s will or attempt to reject and suffer the added pain of refusing God’s help which can see us through any challenge we may face.

Lord, you sometimes challenge us greatly.

Are You testing our faith?

I believe You are offering the opportunity to grow in faith,

Though the change may cause great pain.

Comfort us in our pain and strengthen us to accept the change.

Amen