It could be heard in her voice.
From one stage to another. The great unknown. It was all well and good other people telling her about what it would be like, but she had never been there before. She didn’t know what it would be like. Anxiety filled her voice as she listed issue after issue of the things she would have to look after and what would happen if things didn’t work out.
Nothing had happened yet, but she was already worried about if things didn’t work out. It consumed her in anxiety at that time. After she talked about it, she was fine. It was good to get it off her chest for the time being. She knew it would be an issue later on though as she would still have to deal with the great unknown.
What would happen as she went from the stage of the known into that next stage of the unknown? Everything she knew she could control, she was about to lose. That scared her. She was told it was good to feel scared and just to trust God in the process. That was easier said than done.
She didn’t have a clue what to do and to say the experience was unsettling was an understatement. Should she do what the others were doing? What should she do about her inability to do what the others did? How would she work her way through?
They reassured her as best as they could, but it was like they couldn’t understand her. They couldn’t reach her. She felt lost and alone.
The choice for her was clear, though. She could seek to work things out in her own strength and on her own speed. Or she could surrender to the leading of God.
Either would bring about pain and discomfort as she travelled from the old to the new. The trauma she would experience in the transition would either lead to healing or an unsatisfying quest to cope with the change and indeed the change taking a turn for the worse.
You want to make the decision for her. You want to help her out so much. Yet respect for her means that all you can do is continue to show her what the surrendered life looks like. Show her and share with her and help her with answering questions about it. It will continue to be her choice, however, as to the path she’ll take and how she will journey trough the transition.
It is not the only transition that she’ll go through. Just as it wouldn’t be the last transition we would go through. Change is inevitable, but growth isn’t. That’s the challenge of going through the trauma of transition.
(Photo by Malcolm Lightbody on Unsplash)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 