I am going to admit that I do not like change, of any kind. I don’t like it when a favorite outfit wears out and I have to discard it. I don’t like it when my husband moves things around in the interest of “organization” and I can’t find them. I don’t like when my doctor I have been seeing for twenty years retires and I have to find a new specialist. I just don’t like new. But God does…so there is that.

God creates new things from nothing. So when He says He is doing a new thing, it isn’t taking something old and re-purposing it. It is all brand new.

God creates and I am likely the one standing there saying, “Yes, that’s very nice, but I liked the old thing better.” I know that you are probably gasping at my boldness right now, but God already knows what I am thinking and how I feel so saying it out loud isn’t going to surprise Him. He has been working on me lately to get me to accept new things, new people in my life, a new arrangement of furniture so I can get around with my walker, and even a few new-to-me foods. But I must say that on the last one, it has to really smell and look good to get me to even try it. I am not a “Daniel Boone” kind of person willing to blaze whatever trail is needed. I am the kind of person who likes the trail already laid out with a map or GPS telling me all of the stops and places along the way that might delay my travel. God doesn’t give us a map of our lives and tell us to just follow it and we will be fine. God likes to do new things because He knows that some new things are good for us, others stretch us, others test us and in the end, they all grow us.

We may think that we have everything all figured out and then God shows us that we definitely don’t. God works within us to accomplish His goals for us and if that means changing, then that is what He works on. Again, that word I don’t like…change. With my health issues, there have been a lot of changes this last year. I have to plan trips around my medication schedule so that I am not asking my husband for a bathroom break every half hour or so when we are on the road. I had to change my Sunday school class because the building for the couple one doesn’t have a bathroom that I can use except down some very treacherous and steep stairs. I am not traveling to see grandchildren as much as I would like because I just don’t feel well, and then, of course, there are always medical appointments that intervene. I didn’t get to see my sister for her birthday this year because I had just been diagnosed with the whole heart issue and the doctor didn’t want me to travel. Road bumps are a part of life, but I am discovering that some of those bumps are part of God’s plan for me and He already knew that they were coming. I am the only one surprised by them. But God’s word says He can do “infinitely MORE than we might ask or think.” We are finite people with a finite mind, but God is not. Thus trust enters the picture and we know that He is working and doing more, more than we thought possible, more than we can even ever imagine. Who knew that I would make new friends in the new class? God knew. Who knew that the new nephrologist would be so on top of things that he calls to make sure I show up for extra labs when my numbers go up? God knew. Who knew that not visiting my sister meant that the doctor would relent and give me permission to go to our granddaughter’s wedding, even helping me with the med schedule I would need to follow to make the long trip? God knew. So, am I resting in this new world of change and adjustment? No, but I am getting better at the whole “wait and see” thing. I am more willing to wait and see what God will do to work things out in a new and creative way.

And isn’t it just like God to remind me this morning that God is preparing things for me and I cannot even imagine the new things He has waiting for me.