Seasons of Excitement and Transition

The  second season I want to share is one of excitement and adventure. It wasn’t one free from challenge, for I was far from home and support, raising children who were very sensitive to change and dealing with the very normal challenges of the primary school years. But my overwhelming memory is one of excitement and delight. It began with my husband Chris who had for a very long time desired to live and work overseas and have a bit of an adventure. For the first 9 years of marriage, every time he raised the subject I was overwhelmed by fear. I couldn’t imagine leaving my family. After many years of living with simple means we were blessed with a year of plenty and the question was raised again…this time my anxiety was around spending a lot of money on something I was worried was frivolous. I was worried about what others would think of us, was this something a Christian should do. It was a time I really sought God out for wisdom and clarity. Never before had I had choice like this, and it was a big one. I long laboured in prayer on my own and with Chris as I was so frightened of being disobedient, and choosing to do something that didn’t honour God. I remember very clearly God speaking to me in his word, and bringing peace to this decision. 

When that peace came I ran wholeheartedly with Chris into this adventure to move our family to the UK. We went with no job for Chris in place, no family or friends, banking and rental history. It literally felt like a leap of faith. My years in the UK are my happiest memories. Time and time again God did so many amazing things, things I never thought possible. And everywhere I went I had opportunity to tell others of how gracious and provisional was my Heavenly Father. It was a season of delighting in God and having him expand my appreciation of his world and expand my experience of his church. And being so far away from everything that was safe and comfortable meant that instead of instantly running to familiar sources (my Mum) for help I ran more to God and in turn my husband. A unexpected gift that God gave me in this time was to deepen my marriage. For that alone I say all praise be to God.  

A verse of scripture that comes to mind when I think of this season is Psalm 34 vs 8, “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” Are you in a season of life that is exciting? Maybe a new relationship, or a job you are loving. Maybe you’re a new Christian and discovering God’s goodness and blessing for the first time. I challenge you to humbly share with those who ask the good things that God is doing in your life right now with others. He is the giver of all things good, and others are blessed when we give glory to God.  

After what had been a long season (12 years) of having small children at home with me full time, I now found myself in a completely foreign and uncomfortable place. My children were all at school, and there was a portion of my day that was now a loose end. I didn’t recognise it at the time, but I was grieving. Grieving the loss of a season of life that I had thoroughly enjoyed. I had poured all my energy into the baby/toddler years that a role shift felt like losing my identity. I felt untethered. And for the first time in my life I felt that I’d lost meaning and purpose. Most women at the same stage of motherhood already had careers outside of the home, with purpose to fill their days with. I suddenly had what I perceived as nothing. (It didn’t help that I had recently moved to Melbourne after 3 years of living in London. All my friends were in Queensland and the UK. 

I had no history here not a single friend, and in the course of my first year here, the only woman who showed me kindness was my neighbour, a woman at home with a toddler. She would often comment to me that she was envious of me being able to sit on the porch and have time to myself to drink tea and read a book. But what was I most often doing… crying over a cuppa tea and my bible. It was the first time in my life that I came to God completely empty emotionally and spiritually. I felt stripped bare of everything I knew, and it was the first time I literally had time to sit with God, to wait on him and to listen for his prompting. While it was uncomfortable, I resisted the urge to just fill my time with things. I learned to be quiet with God, to be okay with space, and to allow him to speak freshly into a new season. One lovely thing that emerged through this season of walking quietly with God was being prompted to study Journalism. I never thought I would return to study, but what came from this was a real joy of learning new things and in finding my voice on a page. Transitions have the wonderful potential for new possibilities you’d never considered before. 

Are you in a season of transition, maybe you’ve been made redundant at work, you might be new to this city, you might be an empty nester? Isaiah 43vs 18- 19 says, “Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up: do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the dessert.” It’s very natural in a time of transition to view the past with ‘rose coloured glasses’; to idealise it and gloss over some of the hardships. There is nothing wrong with remembering the past with fondness; happy memories are to be treasured as part of the richness of our life story. But if our gaze is stuck in the past, preventing us from being present and alert to the good God has for us, then we may fail to see what he is doing right now. So I challenge you to think about - what new thing might God be preparing for you and teaching you in this season? Ask God to help you, as you grieve for what has passed and look ahead to the future.