This month in BIG Life Mentoring, our series is called “Changed”. If you’re a new listener, BIG Life Mentoring is our online mentoring program where I mentor 300 women from all across the country to live the BIG life they were created for as the woman they were created to be. You can get all the details and even grab your spot at biglifementoring.com In November we’re diving into CHANGE. What if you are a few tiny changes away from a radically different life? Would you be willing to change for a changed life? Our God is the same forever and always, he never changes, but he is the God of change. He changes the seasons and he changes lives. And listen up, he’s about to change something in your life. Perhaps it’s something you’ve been praying for for years on end and it’s finally coming your way, or perhaps it’s something you don’t even see coming. You are about to be CHANGED!
Lonnie and I have lived all across the country. From the East coast to the West coast and 3 states in between. We are wanderers and adventurers. We move on a yearly basis because we have learned to love change. And here’s why … we don’t want to miss a thing. We want to wake up every day and look around us in complete awe. We want to live in a way that we come to the end of our lives and be able to say “we did all we could, and we LOVED IT!” So we move often. We are always the “new family in town”, so our perspective is slightly different than the local who has lived there their entire life. We often see what others don’t see. Why? Because it’s different for us, but all the same for them. We have fresh eyes where the 5th generation local has become a little glazed over with the repetitiveness of life.
As much as you may think you want a predictable, predetermined, safe life where nothing ever changes and all things are guaranteed to stay the same, YOU REALLY DON’T WANT THAT. Your soul is craving change. Your eyes are desperate for new and exciting. And yet we cling to what “has been” with a death grip and fight change like the devil himself.
Let me tell you something, the very change you’re fighting may not be a work of the enemy, it may be the design of our almighty God to keep you fully alive in this life. To open your eyes once again, to snap you out of robotic living. To give you days you will actually REMEMBER instead of weeks, months and years of your life passing in a gradual decline.
It is time for change.
And oh how we serve the God of change. We serve the God of curveballs.
Have you ever been thrown a curveball in life? Things didn’t go the way you imagined? Yeah, me too. What does it mean when life seems to get out of control? What does it mean when the bottom drops out of your plans and you’re striking out?
How do you receive change? Do you flip out? Do you panic? Do you begin imagining your ultimate failure and demise immediately? Do you quit? Or do you TRUST? Do you trust that change is God’s curveball to keep you IN THE GAME. It’s not to strike you out; but rather so you can hit it out of the park.
Change is God’s curveball to give you fresh eyes, to wake you up, to keep you from growing so comfortable that you just drift through this week, this month, this year with that ever so gradual decline.
CHANGE IS FOR YOU. For your benefit.
What is your curveball? What is your unexpected change? What is your disappointing pitch right now? Life isn’t in control, God is. Let me say that again. Life isn’t in control. Your life is totally out of control. All your planning and work will NOT control your life. God is in control. Complete control.
Proverbs 19:21 “You can make many plans, but the LORD’s purpose will prevail.”
Make your plans. Your plans are not a bad thing. In fact God wants to conspire with you. Imagine God sitting down to dream with you and imagine all your life could be. Imagine God sketching plans with you and working to connect all the dots. Imagine God seeing your plans and then saying “that’s good, I like it, BUT WATCH THIS, I can do even better.” And that’s where the curveball comes in.
God not only allows curveballs, he stands on the pitcher’s mound and he throws them. And while you may not always understand God’s ways, you can always trust his heart. Always. He is always working everything out for your good. You can bet on that. He’s not out to destroy you or punish you.
He is making you better. He is making you stronger. He is making you into the woman he created you to be, so much more than you ever imagined.
Trust the change in your life. Don’t fight it. Lean into what God is orchestrating. Maybe this change is here to change you. To make you exactly who you were created to be. What if this change is a tremendous blessing in disguise. I promise you, you don’t want to miss that! Allow God to work. Allow him to move you. Invite him to shake up your world so you have fresh eyes. Understand that if things always stay the same, you’ll become robotic in your own life. Glazed over by the repetitiveness. You’ll miss the beauty if you resist change.
Now, listen to me closely and let me give you a word for today. You’ve been thrown a curve ball. Right now it seems like the thing you are striving for is NOT working. It seems to be going away from you instead of to you. But you keep standing in faith. Keep your eye on what you want. It’s a curveball and it’s going to turn and come RIGHT TO YOU. That’s what curveballs do. They turn. Just when you’re thinking it’s out of your reach, it turns and comes your way. Where we mess up is we give up before the turn. How many times have you put down your bat and walked away just before the turn?
Be faithful. Keep your eyes fresh. Don’t grow lazy. Don’t allow disappointment to lessen your grip on the tools you have been given. Get ready. Get ready. Get ready. It’s a curveball and it’s going to turn and come right to you.
Whenever God throws you a curveball, it’s not to strike you out; but rather so you can hit it out of the park. That’s because he is for you, not against you!
