Transitions for Transformation

Transitions are a part of life. Some are easy. Some maybe not as much. But they happen to everyone. They could be something like changing your major... or they could be something like moving from the wilderness into the Promised Land. A transition isn't something to be feared but rather embraced because just maybe a transition could be setting us up for transformation... 

"There is a new chapter in our story. God will help us enter into a new season in which there is strength for every struggle, grace for every guilt, direction for every question. Greater is He who is in you, than He who is in the world. Joshua didn't tell the people how many circles would have to be made around Jericho, he told them to just keep walking. The walls that kept them out became stepping stones over which they could climb." -Max Lucado

For a while, I felt stuck. I felt as if there was no way out. And no way in. I was not where I was but I was also not where I wanted to be. I was trapped in a never ending cycle of trying to earn the approval of my teachers yet knowing I never would. I kept walking around Jericho. And walking. And walking. For over two years, I walked and walked. I knew that somehow I was getting somewhere but it only felt like I was walking around in circles. 

Now I see that the walls of that Jericho have fallen. 

The voices that were taunting me. The failure I was feeling. The shadows looming over me have fallen. But all of the times that I was talked down to, rejected, and not good enough was teaching me that I deserved better. I knew somewhere in my heart there was a Promised Land out there for me, I just had to have the courage to keep walking in order to find it. And walk I did. And the walls came down. 

"There is strength to face every struggle. There is capacity to face every opportunity." -Max Lucado 

Little did I know three weeks ago, that I would be sitting at home right now in a new school surrounded by new people and new teachers. But here I am. One day I said enough was enough, I gathered all the courage I had and I said no more! I never had that strength by myself. All I knew to do was walk, and God gave me a way out. 

"When you give your heart to Christ, He returned the favor and placed His heart within you and called you an heir, yes, even a co-heir with Christ. Whatever power is available to Christ is available to you." -Max Lucado

I never had the power to bring down Jericho. But I did have the power to walk and be obedient. Right now, I am more thankful than ever that the walls of my Jericho were brought down and that I now have stones to climb over to get to where I want to be. I will never regret the time it took me nor the energy it took me to walk around Jericho. I'm so very thankful for all the lessons it taught me but I'm even more thankful for the joy and healing that can be seen on the other side. In wilderness times maybe there's a Promised Land just up ahead. When feelings of being trapped overwhelm us maybe there's freedom waiting just up ahead. And just maybe, in these moments of transition is where we see the most transformation take place.