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HELEN SANDERS
4-14-2022
TRANSITIONS
A major medical center published a report of the top five things that cause stress. They were as follows:
· Death of a loved one
· Divorce
· Moving
· Major illness or injury
· Job loss
In the past two years the stress factor has been so high throughout the world because of each of these top five stress factors. The COVID plague brought death, divorce, major moves, the illness itself, and many lost jobs. It has turned the world inside out.
I have to say they are all hard, as I have been through each of those things listed. The death of a spouse or a loved one is very difficult, along with divorce. Then there is the moving. Moving can very stressful, but if the move comes because of a loss of a loved one, sickness, divorce, or job loss, the stress level increases exponentially.
How do we deal with these transitions? Is there any way to get through them? I believe there is. It starts with our thoughts. If we steadily think on the problems that have happened, then we can be sure that we are circumstance controlled. We must turn them over to the Lord, or they will torment us. We must take the thoughts of fear that come with each of these stress factors and ask God to help us through. He alone can transition us from fear to faith.
It is not easy. It takes time. We must make the choice to NOT think upon them. The mind is where the battle starts. Even when we are sick, we must choose not to think the worst, but stand on the healing promises of God. It takes discipline of the flesh to do this, but it is the only way to transition from the pain to the promise.
God never said that things could change overnight. It takes time. We are told in James 1:3, “Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect (mature) and entire, wanting (lacking) nothing.” What this is saying is that our faith is tried through trials, but it causes us to either fail or learn from these trials. We mature in our walk with God through our trials. We learn to trust him more and more.
We must realize that it isn’t God that brings these things upon us but Satan. He comes to steal, kill, and destroy. God brings us through these trials. As we learn from these trials, we become stronger in our faith. This then will help us to encourage others that are transitioning from one stressful event to another.
When Peter told Jesus that he would never deny him, Jesus told him that he would, but went on to say in Luke 22:32, “But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted (revert, turn about) strengthen thy brethren.”
In spite of Peter’s failure, he did just what Jesus said. In fact, Jesus told Peter to feed his sheep three times. Peter failed three times, but Jesus saw the sincere heart of Peter that he would help the brethren and told him to do feed his sheep. Peter became a mouthpiece for Jesus. In I Peter 1:7 he said, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” He knew this firsthand because he transitioned from one that denied the Lord to one that sold out and served him with his entire life. He gave his burden to Jesus because Jesus was able to carry it when Peter could not.
We can take the stressful things of life and use them to help others transition from the place they are currently facing to the place God wants them to be. It will not stop the trials from coming, but it gives us hope that they will be used to help others.
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