Do you feel it?

I know it’s only the beginning of November, but it’s already started. Suddenly, the routine of September is slipping away and it’s like your schedule isn’t your own anymore. It’s not supposed to happen this quickly, is it? I mean, I set up my Christmas tree already (yes, yes I did). But the busy and the bustle is already becoming all-encompassing, isn’t it? Is it just me?

As I left my therapist’s office last week, I was complaining about the lack of routine. Nothing has turned out the way I planned. And her last words to me before I walked out of the door were, “Nothing stays the same except Jesus.”

Okay. I mean, I know that. You’ve heard it before, too. It’s not a new concept. But still, we find ourselves rocked. Every single year when it starts to get dark at 5 pm instead of 7 pm, we’re thrown.

Why is it that the simplest sentences that we think we already know often become the most easily forgotten? I don’t know what it looks like for you right now. But I’ve learned that I am almost never alone in how I’m looking at life. And right now, it’s swirling a little bit. I’m grabbing onto each moment and just kind of trying to make it through until the next one. It’s out of survival, right? There are times that we bring this kind of busy on ourselves. We say no to rest and say yes to everything else possible. But other times, it’s just a part of what life is. It’s busy and crammed and it’s seasonal. You may not be doing anything wrong.

Except… are you like me? Complaining, either out loud or just to yourself, that nothing seems to be settled or steady?

It’s because nothing is supposed to be steady. 

Jesus never ever promised anything in our life to be constant, solid, other than Himself.

“Jesus Christ is [eternally changeless, always] the same yesterday and today and forever.” Hebrews 13:8

I know, though.

We’re convinced life is supposed to work upward; linear. We’re supposed to work though that season of chaos so that this new one could be so much better. I know you’ve heard it before. Jesus didn’t promise that it would be easy. Our schedule; our routine has never been guaranteed or promised.

What if we stopped fighting the waves of change and instead latched onto the Rock that never moves?

When your toddler moves into a new stage of development and now everything you thought you knew has started over from scratch.

When you thought you had your job responsibility down; and suddenly it’s flipped and you have no idea what you’re doing.

When you are faced with an upheaval of your safety.

When you are forced to move on with life without your husband; your dad; your best friend.

This is deeper than just a holiday hustle. This is about seasonal depression. This is about real anxiety. Because we have a choice.

We can choose to focus on what doesn’t say the same, or we can focus on the One who does. 

I don’t want to just make it. I don’t want to be shocked and knocked down anytime something surprises me that I didn’t plan for. If my Father isn’t surprised or unprepared, then I don’t have to be either.

Despite what the world says, you cannot find security and strength within yourself. I have never found it there. But I have found it within the God inside of me. And so can you.

 

“I stand silently to listen for the One I love,

waiting as long as it takes for the Lord to rescue me.

For God alone has been my Savior. He alone is my safe place;

His wrap-around presence always protects me.

For He is my champion defender; there’s no risk of failure with God.”

[Psalm 62:1-2]