At first we were little frustrated with the need to replace this dryer. We are not prepared to purchase a new washer/dryer set at this time. Finding another used dryer was our best option. To look and pay for another used dryer was not something that we were excited about. To not have access to a dryer in my home that was available to use was even less pleasant.
And so the search began. After locating what sounded like a good dryer at a good price, we loaded the old dryer into the back of our vehicle and headed for the store belonging to the gentleman I had spoken with on the phone. When we arrived we found the dryer had an extra-large capacity, It can dry larger amounts of clothing at any given time. This dryer would be more convenient than either of our last two dryers.
The washing machine that we own is also an extra-large capacity. For many years now, I have washed loads that were too large to be put in the dryer at one time. For nearly every load I washed I dried two. This was a time-consuming process that was repeated several times each week. After washing and drying the first two loads of clothing in the new dryer, I found myself liking it very much. I almost wondered why I had been upset when the other dryer broke.
At some times in our lives, we will find ourselves needing to make a change. This can result from a loss of friends, a change in life’s direction or simply a word from God. The time for things to remain the same comes to an end. It is easy to become upset over what we consider a loss in our lives. Instead of looking to the blessings ahead, we may longingly attempt to cling to what must be left behind. During the time that the old is being cut away, we may find it hard to consider and believe that what our loving Father has for us is far better.
The Bible is full of stories where people have faced change. Abraham was called to travel to a new land. The Israelites were brought out of Egypt into that same promised land. The early Christians were scattered from Jerusalem to fulfill the command of Jesus. “But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth.” (Acts 1:8 AMP) Change is an inevitable part of growth and obedience.
When the change requires us to give up something that is harmful, we can more readily understand it. We know that we are to lay down sin and grow in godliness. “… let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us,” (Hebrews 12:1b AMP) Although it may hurt to set aside old ways we can see the purpose.
Sometimes we must leave behind something that has been good. Even in these times we must know that God always has the best plan for us. We cannot continue to yearn for that prior time in our lives.
“Do not [earnestly] remember the former things; neither consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs forth; do you not perceive and know it and will you not give heed to it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah 43:18-19 AMP) The new thing that God has planned is more perfectly suited to us at this point in our lives than any former thing that we may be missing.
When we allow the Holy Spirit to make the necessary changes in our lives, we will find that we do not greatly miss that which is left behind. The door that God is opening ahead of us will be far better. We will one day look back and wonder why we were ever attached to what we left. Just as my washer and dryer are the right fit for each other, God’s plan is the right fit for us.
So whatever you may be leaving behind, look with joyful expectation toward what God is bringing in its place.
No comments:
Post a Comment