Keeping Faith When Embracing Change

Soon my family will move from north London to the suburbs in southwest London, a geographical change of only twenty-five miles that for me feels much bigger in scope. I’m sad to leave our beloved home of over two decades, and I’m struggling to drum up excitement for the new. Before the move, I’m savoring our time here even as I plan for the changes to come, through downloading home-design software and the like. Along with gearing up for the practical considerations, I’m working through my emotions; for instance, I grieve that I’ll no longer walk along our local shops and run into friends from years back, like I did yesterday. And even now, when I consider the smaller and more modern vicarage (church-owned home) we’ll soon inhabit, I find myself longing to keep the high Victorian ceilings and spacious rooms I currently enjoy. 

Although I have mixed emotions, I’m holding onto God’s promises to be with me and my family as we move to this new place. I don’t know what lies ahead, and I could easily spiral into sadness over what we will be saying goodbye to. But I’m exercising trust in my loving Father, the One who knows me and my loved ones, and who desires what is best for each of us. Right now, I confess that this feels like of a statement of hope that I’m holding onto as I consider the future. But I want to trust in our loving God. After all, as I look back over my life, I see how He’s never before let me down. So why would now be any different? 

An Immovable Rock 

For all of us, change is a constant. Yet even when we know that good things are on the way, such as a new home, a new job, or a new baby, we may feel pain and dread along with the excitement about what’s on the horizon. Or maybe we face something unwelcome, such as a loved one being unwell, and we can’t imagine a new normal that includes sickness or life without them.   

In moments good or challenging, we can cling to God and His goodness as our immovable rock and foundation. We can be faithful and obey when we discern His leading. And we can ask Him to let the truth of His love for us, and His promises that He’ll never leave us, to sink so deeply into our beings that we can embrace change with grace and hope. That’s what I’m trying to do as I bid farewell to my beloved home in north London.  

From Fear to Faith 

As I navigate change, I find compelling the example of Abraham and Sarah as they stayed close to God while experiencing so much upheaval. Of course they weren’t perfect; both had lapses in faith, and at times fear drove them to desperate decisions (such as Abraham passing off his wife as his sister before the foreign king—see Genesis 12:10–20 and Genesis 20:2–12). But they heard and obeyed God, and they witnessed His grace in their lives.  

Abraham was seventy-five years old when the Lord called him to a new life: “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing” (Genesis 12:1–2).  

How do you think Abraham felt when he heard these words? I’m guessing his heart beat with excitement, but he also may have gasped at the thought that life would never be the same. For when Abraham became a foreigner and a stranger, he would live in a tent and wouldn’t be surrounded by his family and friends. And in never returning to his home and his people, he would relinquish his inheritance from his father’s fathers. Not only would he miss out on any material possessions, but he would forfeit the accepted family roles, such as caring for elderly relatives. God’s call was costly. 

The biblical narrative doesn’t tell us what Abraham thought or felt as he heard God’s call—we don’t know if he deliberated before responding. Was he excited or anxious, or a bit of both? He and Sarah would have to exercise great faith in obeying God, especially His promise to make them into a great nation. After all, Sarah, as we see in the genealogy in Genesis 11:30, was unable to conceive. In that day, being childless could entail shame and fear about the future. Could Sarah and Abraham believe that the Lord would reverse this state of infertility? Especially because she was at least sixty-five years old?  

Whatever their process was of deciding how to respond, Abraham obeyed: “So Abram went, as the Lord had told him” (Genesis 12:4). He took his wife Sarah and his nephew Lot, along with their possessions, and set off for the land of Canaan. Here at first they would be foreigners, but in time they would call it their home, a place where they could rest and flourish. Here they would be blessed, and here they would bless “all peoples on earth” (Genesis 12:3). In obedience, they embraced God’s call and the change it entailed, not knowing what lay ahead of them.  

Trusting in Times of Change 

When we face transitions, and we waver between the already and the not-yet, we can hold onto God’s promises as revealed through Scripture. We can trust that through the Holy Spirit He will bring alive passages from the Bible that speak of His grace and truth for us, just where we need it. He will help us to obey His loving instructions that we discern through the help of the Holy Spirit and by wise counselors. And because He is a good Father, God delights in empowering us to move forward with our decisions as we trust His loving companionship. 

We too can heed God’s loving call to us. Perhaps we feel a nudge to a new geographical location, seeking to embrace the unknown even as we grieve what we will leave behind. Or maybe we’re transitioning from education to the world of work, and we face a tightening economy along with fresh opportunities. Or perhaps our issue of trust is health-related, as we wait for healing and release from a physical condition that plagues us or a loved one. What’s before us is varied and different, but we all will face some kind of change in our lives.  

And in all of our moments, God promises that He’ll never abandon us. Consider, for instance, how closely He stayed to Abraham and Sarah, even appearing as guests at their tent to bring the good news that they would have a child (see Genesis 18:1). We too can trust that He will never skip out on us. He won’t even glance away from us—that’s how closely He remains to His beloved children. Our future might be unclear, but God’s love will never leave us.  

How about you? How do you think Abraham and Sarah felt when God called them? And how do you hold onto God’s promises when you face something different and perhaps unexpected or unwelcome?  

—Written by Amy Boucher Pye. Used by permission from the author. Click here to connect with Amy.