Things Change
No one knows how much you've grown, like you. You know exactly where you have come from, how you used to be, and how you have matured. You've changed.
How easily do we forget that change is inevitable? If there is no other constant, change is. Nothing (and I mean absolutely nothing) remains the same except God. Everything God is, is everything God will be, and James 1:17 describes His unchanging nature, as "no shadow of turning". Everything else is subject to change.
To take it a step further, everything changes because everything changes. In other words, when something or someone changes around you, you then have to change to adapt. Nothing remains the same.
I live in a small town on the border of northeast Texas, and southwest Arkansas. I have lived here all my life, so I take for granted how much this city has grown and developed because I live here. I'm here every day adapting to the changes. My brother, however, hasn't lived here for over a decade. Yes he grew up here, and even lived some of his adult years here as well, but he will ask for directions to somewhere and I'm shocked. I say, "you know where that is," when in fact, he doesn't, because things have changed, and he hasn't been able to adapt.
I said all that to say this: things change. People change. It's not necessarily anyone's fault, it's just the nature of things. This is true in everything, including relationships. Very few people are with you for the long haul, and many people will walk away. It will not always be your fault when people leave, just know that things change and people change. There are many people who can't adapt to the person you've become, and many others who won't adapt to the person you will be, and that's okay. Don't faint at the fact that everyone can't go, or grow with you. Things change. People change.
So while it may be challenging, and sometimes even hurtful, allow people the latitude to change, or even the grace to not be able to adapt to your changing. My wife says it all the time: "It is what it is until it's not what it was."
"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed (when things change), for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9, New American Standard Version.
© 2016 Derek J. Murphy Enterprises, and I AM KINGDOM Publishing, All Rights Reserved.
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