Let it Roll.
Over the summer we moved for the sixth time in fifteen years of marriage and coaching football. Each move there is a different aspect of my flesh the Lord reveals needs to change. This season of change is no different. It's been like a full frontal hug on every insecurity I so diligently felt I was protecting. It turns out I wasn't doing a very good job hiding those icky places I keep energetically tucked away inside familiarity. There is nothing like a big change where your dependencies are challenged to refresh your keenest sensitivities bent towards whether or not you're teachable. I have a choice to either allow the changes to reveal passionate internal strength and endurance or acidic soul scarcity and passivitiy.
This particular move carried us from Dallas, Texas to Conway, Arkansas. We hadn't been here long before we realized the particular beauty in all the nature of The Natural State. So many hikes to take and trails to adventure through. Gorgeous lakes and rolling rivers abound. The Arkansas River runs beneath the longest bridge in Arkansas and it is a special tourist attraction. A couple of weeks ago we were feeling touristy so we decided to go check it out. As my Trotter Tribe stood in the middle of a ginormous bridge overlooking the brilliance of the steady Arkansas River I caught myself mulling over the statement, "I'm not good at changes." It turned into a prayer more or less as we watched the river move and morph into various splashes against each other. As I watched the water lace in and out of itself it dawned on me this thought: never once is a river the same. It is constantly changing. No two seconds of a river are ever the same beneath the surface. Yet above the surface we are able to easily see a consistency we call beautiful.
As we are living and breathing and operating no two seconds of our lives beneath the surface are the same. Our securities and familiarities are constantly shifting. Whether we want them to or not, changes are always happening within us. Physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Big changes in our lives merely reveal the subtle changes rolling beneath the surface. God, Himself is constantly evolving as the all sufficient savior; moving, rolling, lacing in and through all circumstances and yet remaining every bit as steady and consistent to flow into our destinies.
"God has a constantly flowing river whose sparkling steams bring joy and delight to his people. His river flows right through the city of God Most High, into his holy dwelling places." Psalm 46:4 {Passion Translation}
"Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." Isaiah 43:19 {English Standard Version}
In order for God to do a new thing in our lives, changes to some degree have to take place.
Whether we invite it or it happens to us, changes present an opportunity for a roaring river to flow through our lives and circumstances to shape us, stir us, and steady us. Rivers of Change can roll where we didn't imagine a river could spring forth. It isn't about whether we are good at changes or not. I'm realizing changes can roll like a river evolving my soul and growing my spirit in eternal strength, reverence and endurance like I never knew possible.Or....I could kick and scream inside my soul and become acidic and bitter towards the evolution changes bring. Instead of seeing the beauty of allowing the River of Changes to shape and mold me, I could merely see erosion and dry up the fullness of what the changes could offer. I could spend my days looking back on what was and lingering too long over the God of my yesterdays, or I could choose where the God of my Tomorrows is rolling into my future and the future of my tribe, my ministry and my friendships.
Let It Roll
Come - Make sure to keep your heart coming towards Jesus: Journal, worship, pray and pretty much saturate your heart to soaking in the Word of God. I'm way too human to do casual faith. Don't keep it low key. Make sure to keep the surroundings within your spirit consistently coming towards Jesus.
Listen - Make your ears tune into what your heart is saying, what people around me are saying and how they are saying it. Be aware of the Spirit talking in each new adjustment the changes to life bring. I heard a leadership quote years ago and it has stuck with me, "Leaders walk through a crowd and should listen, learn and then lead." There is a good chance I am currently saying this quote in my head over and over again.
Seek - Changes to life will have the potential to deepen your faith, but they can also keep you so busy dealing with the adjustments you assume faith will somehow fall in your lap. False. Motivating faith in a time when everything changes has to happen with activated seeking. Reach for Jesus. Risk an introduction to new friends, community and circles of influence. Respond when the Spirit stirs your heart to move towards your future.
Allow the victory begging to burst forth from your life have the freedom to flow through the Rivers of Change. I say "let it roll."
New city? "Let it roll."
New school? "Let it roll."
New job? "Let it roll."
New mission? "Let it roll."
New loss? "Let it roll."
New gain? "Let it roll."
No matter where you find yourself or what changes are happening the Lord desires to create a NEW thing. A NEW triumph. A NEW perspective. A NEW river of life. Let it roll, friends, let it roll.
What Rivers of Change do you currently find yourself in? How is God using it to create a new thing in your life?
