Stretch and Embrace Change

Stretch and Embrace Change

by Diana Scothorn

It would have been impossible twenty years ago for me to visualize the life God had for me. I could not see past where I currently was. After a devastating divorce in 1990, I just knew that my life could never be the same! I cried, I prayed, and I pleaded, why God, why?

I had no idea what God had ahead for me! I could not imagine life anyway except what was familiar. It was anything but comfortable to move on. It hurt deeply, but more importantly, it was not what I wanted. I wanted the old life I was used to. God, on the other hand, knew I had to change if I wanted to live on the inside again!

I’m sure there have been times we have all experienced forced change. Change, when we are not the ones initiating it, causes us to resist and remain. Temporary setbacks are never comfortable. I couldn’t believe that one week prior, my life looked…

…so different! God, however, is never surprised and He always has a plan, and it’s always good!

It’s a natural tendency to gravitate towards what we know and what’s familiar. That could be paraphrased, “What is safe and comfortable not to shake our world.” When we stay in our comfort zone and refuse to step out, it’s the perfect recipe for going nowhere.

Comfort invites complacency and keeps you in a place where you never grow! It will leave you dissatisfied and unfulfilled! The hardest step is initiating the first step, but each step gets more manageable.

Unfamiliar territory presents new opportunities but also requires a new mindset. Romans 12:2 says,

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will. Our mind can refrain from or advance God’s will!

Change makes everything different and takes a lot more energy when you have your mind on the past. Past is defined as gone by in time and no longer existing. The weight of holding on to what is gone is exhausting. Philippians 3:13 says, “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.”

God has so much more than we often settle for! In my past, I have settled because of fear of what lies ahead. I have learned that it’s a healthy place to be comfortably uncomfortable. We are either stretching or shrinking or, as my husband says, we’re either growing or dying!

To stretch, you have to extend to the full…or hold out, to shrink, you draw or retreat! Hebrews 10:39 says we are not to belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved!

Whether we face being a new mom or dad, a new career, a new location to live, a new relationship, a new church family, or a new health regimen, it will require us to stretch and embrace change! Yesterday’s gone and today is a new day!

I look back and think where I would be today had I not had the courage to move out of yesterday. I’m blessed beyond anything I could have conceived. I’m happily married to a God-fearing husband; we’re passionate about each other and passionate about serving God! However, I know God wants me to continue to step out of my comfort zone and stretch my arms towards Him and continue to embrace change.

If we want something different in life, we have the courage to step out into unfamiliar territory. We can never stop stretching because God always has much more than we had in mind!