Change is hard. We hate it. We often resist it until it is forced on us by circumstances. Can I get an amen?

Here’s a question to ponder: Could it be that the main reason we hate change is because we resist it? What if we saw change as God transitioning us from one place of blessing to another and embraced it instead?

I’m not saying transitions are painless. In the 70’s, Kim and I pastored a small town church. One day, I was called to an unscheduled meeting of the deacon board that started with them saying, “We want you to resign and go away without stirring a fuss.”

Did I choose that change? No! Was it painful? Yes! But Kim and I learned something important in that experience. When God calls you to change something, change it! If you don’t embrace His call when He calls, He will often turn up the heat until you listen. For us, we had known for some years that God was calling us to international missions. We didn’t know when. We hadn’t really been praying fervently for the answer. That painful change became the catalyst that made when clear!

We absolutely loved our years in the Philippines. We still have deep, life-long friendships there.  But in time, we knew the national church was ready to continue without a resident missionary. We knew change was coming again. This time we prayed constantly, “Lord, tell us when. We will go!” We didn’t resist the coming change, we embraced it!

The next 24 years were amazing. God blessed in more ways than we could ever dreamed. Tens of thousands of unchurched people came to Western Branch Community Church. Thousands of them found a fresh start with Jesus at the center. As the church grew, change was inevitable. Some of the changes were painful, but each change we embraced moved the church to a higher place of effectiveness and influence in our world. Last year was the strongest of all. We saw more baptisms than anytime in our history; we received  more new members than anytime; average attendance and giving reached record highs. We’d be crazy to leave that, right? Not if you understand the nature of transitions with God.

Transitions don’t always make sense to the natural eye. Sometimes God doesn’t want them to. He wants you to trust Him.

In January, I stepped down as Senior Pastor of Community Church. Kim stepped down from her role as Creative Arts Director. We started a new adventure—that of helping pastors and churches restore the dynamics of the original Acts 2 church in their world through the Acts 2 Network (www.acts2network.org).

I won’t pretend the transition has been easy. In some ways, it has been the most emotional of our lives. But we’ve learned over the years that we can trust God with transitions. I can honestly say, Kim and I can hardly wait to see what God is going to do in the days ahead!

Embrace change. Don’t resist it. Don’t hate it. It may simply be God transitioning you from one level of blessing to the next one! If 43 years with Jesus has taught us anything it is, “God can be trusted in the transitions!” Trust him—see where He takes you.