Trust God through life’s transitions

Transitions are a part of life. Though change can sometimes be scary, we must remember that the acceptance of change is part of our physical, mental and spiritual growth. While I am writing this article, my wife Heidi and I, in just a few short hours, will be taking our youngest daughter shopping to find her wedding dress. So I am going to use myself as a case study. As a dad, I have every possible emotion running through my psyche.

I am happy for her, I am sad for me, I am happy for me, I am worried about her, I want to give my opinions yet, I want to support their decisions as a couple. Some may say, you are a Man of the Word, a preacher, you are not supposed to be worried. The worry I have is not ungodly. The worry I have is a transition in itself. It is part of the process of letting go. In fact, the whole process I am going through is one of normality. Furthermore, the process is biblical. A child grows up and leaves his mother and father, to find a wife. The two are joined together in Holy Matrimony and spiritually become one flesh.

When your life is going through a transition, several will come up and give you their opinion. I have learned that the opinions others share with me have no bearing on my transition unless I choose to listen to the opinion. In the current situation, several have given their opinion and what I have learned is, most have positive words of advice and encouragement. Those that are negative don’t get it. What they do not get is the fact that all of us have a different story. Fortunately for us all, life is not like dough being cut out by a cookie-cutter. Our stories are all different and if they weren’t, life would be very boring.

As I am writing this, I am sitting in the breakfast area of a hotel lobby. The hotel has one of those pancake makers that operate by the push of a button. It is easy! You walk over there push one or two and then you push start. You take a plate and you place it to the right side of the machine and literally, in two minutes you have perfectly made pancakes. I just witnessed someone use the instant pancake producer for the very first time. It was entertaining because they did not understand the concept. They just shouted out, “You mean I push this button and then a pancake comes out of this silver box? How is that sanitary? Surely the pancake will taste terrible!” While the pancake was being prepared, the individual was looking underneath the pancake maker saying, “This thing doesn’t work, where’s my pancake at? The breakfast attendant politely said, “In another thirty seconds your pancake will be ready and it will be delicious.” The individual did not understand the vision or the concept of the pancake maker and because of this, they had no way to enjoy the transition. Somewhere in the world, there was an inventor who had a dream to invent a device that would take pancake batter we can’t see and would create a transition before our very eyes a pancake being produced that is hot, fresh, and safe for people of all ages to make as we trust the inventor’s vision.

That is what we need to do! When life goes through transitions we must trust the Lord. It is Proverbs 3:5,6 coming to pass. Trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall make your paths straight, The more we trust in the Lord, the easier it becomes.

May your week be blessed and your pancakes hot and fresh!

Dave Truncone is the pastor of First Assembly of God Church in Van Buren. He is married to Heidi and they have two daughters, Hannah, and Abigail. They live in Van Buren.