Change

"I am the Lord, I change not." Malachi 3:6

Good morning, dear friends!

Photo: pixabay

If there is one lesson that I have needed to learn over and over again on the mission field, it is that change is inevitable.

There were a lot of changes that I made when I first arrived in France, some 15+ years ago.  I had to change my habits, my comforts, my language, my customs, my outlook, my approach with people, my way of thinking.

Then, just when I started feeling a little more settled, God blessed us with children.  Adapting to a foreign culture, with children, brings up a whole new set of change:  learning to be a mom, with what comes to me naturally as a mom, in a country where my "mom-ness" is very different from those around me.

A few kids later, I finally start feeling comfortable with my role as wife and mom, and then more changes come.  Going back to the US, where I am no longer "at home," is as much of a culture shock as it was arriving in France.  My memories and ways of doing things in America were put on hold from the time I left for France.  I find myself readjusting to life over there, while a part of me stays here.

Then, the return to the field, moving houses, changing cities, changing neighbors, and starting all over again.  New streets, new faces, new ways of doing things...just because we moved 15 minutes away to a new village.  The folks here are gone during the day and home at night.  It is a village where outsiders are immediately noticed, questioned, and then ignored in turn.

As challenging as it is to face these changes personally, what makes it more difficult is dealing with change, sometimes badly even, and having to do it in front of witnesses.  My children are constantly observing, watching and taking cues from my actions and reactions.  How will I deal with...the latest curveball?  It's hard knowing that my reactions to the changes happening around me will impact the way my children view life, their faith, their God, their thoughts about the missions field.

We have been settled in our "new" village for a while, and so the changes have faded somewhat from memory.  This morning as I was thinking back to all the changes that have occurred in my life since I married my husband, started on this crazy missionary life with him, I realize that the physical changes are not the greatest in my life.  All of these external changes have had a pretty amazing impact on my personal and spiritual walk as well.  May I share a few of the lessons that the Lord has been showing me, through all these changes?

1. I can never really go back.  As much sometimes as it is tempting to say, "I'm going to go back to...a time or place in my life where things are easier and simpler..." it doesn't really happen that way.  I can go back and revisit a place or people in my life from a more "constant" time, but that doesn't mean that it will be the same to me.  Places change, people grow up and change, and the place in my life that seemed so "perfect" will be very different from how I remembered it.  The Lord is teaching me to value the memories, take a mental snapshot, and move on.

2.  I am never really alone.  Something new may throw me for a loop, but it doesn't challenge my God.  No matter what new situation I am thrown into, I have the knowledge that I am always in the presence of my God who goes before me.  He is the one who leads, and stays by my side through the strangeness of a new situation, new people, new environment.  And He never changes.

3.  I am the person that I take with me.  I used to think that my environment was the biggest factor on me as a person.  I used to think, that if I were just in...a different situation than my present one, that my life would be so much different.  The only thing that changes in moving or going to a new place in my life, is that it is a new place.  I take with me all my present circumstances, my trials, my sins, my attitudes.  Who I am essentially does not change, with a new place.  I just take all my baggage with me, and have to deal with it wherever I am.  External changes do not change who I am; they just reveal the depth of my character when facing a new situation.

As far as I know, there are no new changes on the horizon.  We are not planning on changing countries or changing houses, so for the moment I am settled.  If there is another thing I have learned as a missionary...is to be ready for anything.  Changes will happen.  Will I be ready for the next one?

How comforting are the words, "I am the Lord, I change not." (Malachi 3:6).  Though I may be challenged by changes coming my way, my Lord is not.  He will not change, but will help me through whatever changes come my way.

What changes are you facing today?