Evinda Lepins

Thanks for joining me for our Coffee Hour today and for the conclusion to Embracing Waves of Change. Grab your journals and your Strand of Faith and let’s go tie some knots in what can be a difficult subject to talk about, let alone live through…
When I was researching the toughest life changes that can sweep us off our feet and land us on our knees, or send us drowning as if in an angry sea, I was overwhelmed by a sense of compassion as I read the first one, and an attitude of gratitude as I read through the rest of them. Though I’ve not endured the first and most difficult of life’s changes, I have come through the rest and I have to say, change changes you…if you let it…for His glory and our good!
Let’s take a look at two of the top 10 changes that can send us tossing and turning like a wave that hits us unexpectedly:

1. Loss of a spouse: Oh, I’ve recently had a very close friend lose her husband to pancreatic cancer…and we lost our precious friend/board member. What a battle he fought, and what a painful battle to watch; one that only time will heal but that the hope and knowledge of heaven can bring her/us through. I love this promise found in Matthew 5:4, a promise that will never bounce or fail: Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted!

Permission to mourn is granted by our Heavenly Father with a promise of comfort!
Let’s look at the next of the toughest life changes:

2. Divorce: Wow, this is a subject we can spend all day on. Divorce is like a death, usually a slow and tortuous one, one that our Father grieves over for it is a ripping/tearing of a covenant. I can speak to this change too well, for I have endured not one…but two of these ugly changes. Were they God’s will? No, it wasn’t His will for divorce but even in the midst of the aftermath, God, in His amazing grace, paints something beautiful out of the pain that comes with this life change, pointing us in a new direction, steering us away from old relational wounds and habits to teach us new and healthy ones so as not to repeat the same relational cycle. Are we willing to learn? There’s a powerful quote by Viktor E. Frankl that goes along with this change that I’d like to share: “When we are no longer to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”

And here’s a promise from our Father: Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart and do not lean on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He WILL make your path straight!
Yes, when things don’t seem to make much sense, and change is tossing you to and fro, lean not on your own understanding, Coffee Hour friend…
Join me tomorrow for Paws for Coffee Hour by Jennifer Wyatt!
Until next week,
Evinda