“Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.” Philippians 4:6-7 (The Message)
I’ve spoken a few times in the past on this blog about an abusive relationship I allowed myself to enter into. I stayed with the individual for one and a half years before having the courage to break it off completely … and that was only with God’s divine ntervention. When individuals are abused, they are repeatedly told they are worthless. Their abusers reinforce over and over again their worthlessness and that if they leave, they will never find someone else “willing to put up with them.” Therefore, many times individuals who are abused choose to stay in the abusive relationship because they believe that is all they are worth and life won’t get any better than that.
Approximately one and one half years ago I spoke about how our family ventured into the world of reptiles and acquired our first bearded dragon. “Um Potato” only lasted for three weeks in our home, namely because he was a cranky/aggressive dragon and definitely not the right fit for our submissive family of five. However, in the process of deciding whether or not we could “train him” or needed to let him go, I was left to wonder if I even wanted to try again because what if the next bearded dragon has the same issues as Um Potato, or worse, what if the new one has worse issues?
This year our family finds ourselves in another situation where change is required. God has been speaking promises to our family for quite a few years and I believe the answer is coming sooner rather than later in 2018. In fact, I’ll boldly say I believe the answer has already occurred and our family has been living our “new normal” for several months by the time you’re reading this post. At the time I’m writing this, though, our family knows change is on the horizon, God has spoken the change will be good, very good, but as of right now, I have no idea what the details look like.
In each situation above, I was given a choice. Stay with the familiar despite the pain it’s causing or trust God that while change itself is scary, the change He is waiting to do will be amazing.
Come back next time when I reveal what happened in each of the above scenarios when I fully surrendered to God’s plans and watched Him work.
© Cheri Swalwell 2018