Waves of Change

I sit on the precipice of change. More specifically, I am waiting for change I do not want to crash into me. As a child, I used to love getting swallowed up by ocean waves. I welcomed the strong current as it tossed me about and always trusted it to spit me out at the end of each cycle. This process was enjoyable, because I was a willing participant. Unfortunately, the waves of change in life aren’t usually like the tides of my childhood. More often, the waves catch me off guard, plummeting into me before I have time to prepare. In these moments, I simultaneously enter fight and flight mode. As my nostrils fills with saltwater, I punch and kick the waves looking for a quick escape. Unfortunately, when I finally resurface, another wall of water inevitably hits me before I regain my bearings. Change in life can feel a lot like drowning.

However, if instead of panic, I chose patience and submission, I could exit the wave safely. This takes incredible self control. I must quiet my lungs, screaming for oxygen, and relax my body to the ebb and flow of the ocean. If I succeed, I will find myself released from the wave’s grip at the perfect moment. There will be enough time to catch my breath while the water recedes and enough time to move out of the way before it approaches again. Submitting to change’s powerful timeline actually brings me freedom.

More specifically, trusting in God’s plan sets me free. I wish knowing this truth was as easy as living it out. There are endless precedences both biblically and in my own life, that suggest that God’s way is better than my own. There are heartbreaks I could have avoided and suffering I didn’t have to face alone. Still, when that first wave of discomfort hits, I find myself thrashing, refusing to give up a feigned sense of control. Control is such a funny thing. We’ve never had it, but most of us spend our lives trying to keep it. This faux sense of control only exhausts me. Until, out of breath and hopeless, I let go. I admit, I cannot do this on my own. I cannot survive the wave without my Savior. In this moment, something amazing happens. I catch my breath. The waves continue to crash, but I am prepared to endure them, because I do not go alone. My hope is restored. I am no longer enslaved by the waves of change, but I am walking through life alongside a loving God who prepared a way just for me.

As this wave of change quickly approaches, I am challenged to trust God first. The God who promised the Israelites in Exodus 33:14, “My Presence will go with you and I will give you rest.” The same God who sent His own son to pay the debt I owe. The God who offers me life now and the Spirit to guide me. In that God, I will trust.