Transitioning with Grace

Saturday saw the end of my second year serving with NET Ministries and the beginning of my new life in Australia.

Just under two years ago, I arrived here in Brisbane: a scared Kiwi with an American accent and a high school graduation certificate fresh off the press, wanting to transform lives and be transformed in Christ.

What I didn’t realize then is just how thorough that transformation would be. Spiritual uprooting, I expected; permanent geographical relocation and identity re-evaluation… let’s call them the ‘immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine’ that St Paul talks about (Ephesians 3:20).

And so I find myself at the end of my life on mission: a new creation in a new home, beginning a new job and a new university degree, no longer a Netter, no longer a child and reasonably uncertain about what God’s future holds.

And I’m the tiniest bit terrified.

Let’s be real: change is hard. Be it the transition between high school and university; moving houses or cities or countries; the end of one thing, the beginning of a new: change challenges our tendency to cling to everything that is familiar and comfortable. It feels, as I (rather morbidly) put it during NET debriefing, like ripping band-aids off the inside of your heart. 

A couple of weeks ago, daunted by the transition that lay ahead, I jotted down, “What can I cling to Lord? Give me some kind of constant in this season of change!”

His response? “I AM.”

There’s a whole lot of power in those two little words.

In my fear of failure; in my doubt of what lies ahead; in the loneliness of letting go of beloved people and the things I found my identity in – HE IS. He is the constant that I am searching for; the only thing worth clinging to.

As I transition – and I know many of you out there are in times of transition too – it’s my prayer that His love would be our constant and our consolation. In the nitty gritty of daily life and busy seasons of change, I think it’s all too easy to lose sight of the One who created and continues to transform the lives we’re living.

To safeguard against this loss of vision (Oh Lord, that I may see!), I’ve equipped myself with five top tips, which I hope you’ll find useful too:

1.) Be Still and Know

It’s okay that you don’t have it all together right now. You are not defined by relationships, talents or possessions. You are not the sum of your weaknesses and failures (nor of your successes and strengths!) but of His love for you. Don’t get swept away in the anxiety of believing you have to be perfectly in control in order to find peace. Peace comes from resting in the arms of the One who is your home. Let Him love you. 

Be still. Know that He is God. Breathe.

2.) Focus externally

It’s sometimes necessary to take a moment and zoom out of whatever is occupying our brains to recognize our own insignificance. Yes, the to-do list or the troubles may seem all consuming; but all around us are brothers and sisters - beloved children of God – thirsting to know the truth of His love for them. 

Take a moment to open your eyes to the needs of the world around you. Ask yourself – who needs to hear the good news today? How can I be Christ to the world rather than demanding that the world be Christ to me? What gift of compassion, understanding or generosity can I make today?

3.) Know your priorities

It’s said that without vision, the people perish. Building a new life demands a bit of labour, and the cathedral you'll create will usually look a little bit like the blueprint you design. I think it's important at the outset to clearly define the key elements of the lifestyle you want to create and to fight hard to incorporate those from day one. 

For me, the big rocks are daily Mass, an hour of prayer with Scripture, nightly examen (see below), meaningful work, invested study, intentional fellowship and wholehearted mission. I don't want to live out a meaningless string of days; I want to continue living my life on purpose, driven by holy discontent and a desire to fall deeply in love with Christ and make Him known in this world. Putting those things as my first priority allows the rest of my duties and leisures to fall into place.

4.) Savour gratitude

I've recently fallen in love with the Examen. I find that this nightly reflection, based on the teachings of St Ignatius, has been effective in helping me become aware of how the Holy Spirit is moving in my life. In times of transition, it's easy to lose sight of God's overarching methods and Will in times of excitement or discouragement. It's a beautiful gift to end a day by reflecting with gratitude on all He has given you and everything He is drawing you into through the ebb and flow of daily life.

5.) Be comfortable outside of your comfort zone

He does not call us to comfort but to greatness. In a season of change, there is a deep longing for something familiar to cling to - be that posessions, family members, old friendships, gifts and talents we've been praised for. But in each of these things, the decision to hold on to them rather than to the Lord inhibits our opennes to transformation. 

A ship may be safe in the harbour. We may feel less terrified and lonely when we decide to fill the endless caverns of our heart with fleeting things that make us comfortable. At the end of the day, though, He calls us beyond the boxes we've created for ourselves into the  great unknown.

I think it's time we start praising God for uncertainty. Rejoice in the moments when He takes you out of the comfort zone of a mapped out life into the tumultuous rollercoaster of a life surrendered to His will. Rejoice that He loves you too much to leave you as you are. Embrace the growing pains that are inherent to transformation in the Lord. 

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I don't want to pretend it's easy. Heck, there's at least four moments every day where I have to stop, take a deep breath and frantically ask the Lord in my heart "Are you sure you know what you're doing?". But over and again He reassures me: I AM. 

Our Emmanuel is with us through the changes of life. Transition; transformation; transubstantiation - these are the marks of two hands open wide and emptied in order that He may fill them with true Life. 

Thank you for your surrender to God. I want you to know I'm with you. Actually, scratch that. I want you to know that HE is with you. And that's what matters.

"Be strong and bold... because it is the Lord your God who goes with you; He will not fail you or forsake you.”

Deuteronomy 31:6 

AMDG