Sermonette: Change is A'coming

Change is something I have never been very good at. When it comes to large changes, I tend to have a mini-crisis. Eventually, I will be okay, but each brand-new season almost always comes with a rocky start. An example of this is when I first started college at NDSU. I came into college as a music education major, and I quickly realized it wasn’t what I wanted to do. I love music but I didn’t want to study classical music for four years. I didn’t know what I wanted to change my major to so when it came to my second semester, I decided to drop out. Though there was more going on than just dealing with change, handling the changes in my life definitely had a roll in my decision to leave school for a semester. This gives you an idea of how I deal with change.

I was thinking about changes in the Bible and I thought of when Jesus ascended into heaven, and the change the disciples went through. This man who taught them everything, died for their sins, and was raised from the dead has now left them and with instructions to wait for the gift the Father before they went to spread the gospel to the world. Imagine how confused they must have been. If I had a mini-crisis going to college, I can’t even think about how I would react if I was in the disciple’s shoes. As we read in Acts 1, it says the disciples took practical steps to prepare to go out into the world. They prayed and waited. The disciples did the thing they knew best, they prayed.

Change isn’t always easy and there’s not always step by step directions to know how to handle every situation. There was no manual for the disciples when Jesus ascending to heaven. For me going to college, I could read all the blogs I wanted, but I don’t know if anyone could have told me exactly how to handle it. I had to walk with God to figure out how to handle this season of my life and have had to continue to do this in each new chapter. As I have learned to walk with Jesus more, coping with change has become more of relying on God than on my own reactions. Though we don’t have a user’s manual in the way we would expect, we do have a book that shows how God helps us through change. Yes, you guessed it, the Bible. God gives us tools to help us handle change: the Bible and prayer. I encourage you to seek God in times of change. Though they come with unknowns and stepping out in faith, God will catch you when you do. He has the best plan for your life and can see how you get through to the other side. Trust him, ask him for guidance, and read his word to see how he helped the disciples and many others throughout history. God sees you, wherever you are at today. Turn to him and let him hold and guide you.