How to Handle Major Life Transition in 3 Easy Steps!

This past Sunday, we honored two high school graduates. Both of these remarkable young women are headed to colleges this fall with dreams of impacting the world cross-culturally. This is a big change for both of them.

And that has me thinking about life transitions.

Major Transitions

Life is full of transitions:

• Any job change
• A move to a new home or city
• Health changes
• Even spiritual growth is a transition

But what do you do when you are facing major life transitions?

Guess what, it isn't 3 easy steps...

I don't know about you, but I'm tired of the link bait that is all over the Internet these days. Every other link seems to promise to solve all of your problems in 3 simple steps... or if you just follow this one simple trick... or how your life/body/emotions will improve dramatically in only 21 days if you just follow their easy-to-implement program...

But despite the misleading link-baitish subject of this email, handling major life transition isn't 3 easy steps. If it were, then we wouldn't need God.

Years ago, in my previous life as a College & Young Adult pastor, I used to give college graduates a book about life transition. The authors didn't give 3 easy steps to handling the changes that we go through. Rather, they walked the reader through Psalm 139.

In this famous psalm, David prays to God, reminding himself that no matter where he goes, what he does, what he thinks, or even what he says, God is with him. Through every transition, God is there, loving, guiding, working, building, changing, and molding you into the image of Jesus. Whether it be the suckiness* of losing a job or the joy of finally moving into a new house, God is there, working in you so He can work through you.

So I can't give you 3 easy steps like "Read, Pray, Surrender" and promise you that the transition you are facing will just easily pass by.

But what I can promise you is that God is with you. And whether you feel it or not, He is at work.

Where to go from here

I encourage you to read David's words in Psalm 139. And don't just read the psalm and be done.

Read it.

Then read it again.

Then pray through it.

And as you pray, allow God to remind you of the truth that no matter what you are facing, no matter what transition you are going through, no matter how dark the transition leaves you, God is there with you, loving you, working in and around you, shining His light into your life.

So seek Him. Trust Him. Cry out to Him. And take comfort in knowing that nothing you are going through is a surprise to Him... and it isn't anything He can't handle.

*Yes, I know, suckiness isn't a word. But it's the most accurate word I could think of as I typed.