In Transition - Understanding His Will.

"A complete life is the life of a child. When I am fully conscious of my awareness of Christ, there is something wrong. It is the sick person who really knows what health is. A child of God is not aware of the will of God because he is the will of God. When we have deviated even slightly from the will of God, we begin to ask, “Lord, what is your will?” A child of God never prays to be made aware of the fact that God answers prayer, because he is so restfully certain that God always answers prayer." Chambers

Good morning Change Heroines and Change Heroes.  For those of us in transition the above statement by Oswald Chambers may be a balm to our spirit or it may cut like a knife into our hearts.  Transition and change are uncomfortable - whether it be seen as negative or positive it shakes us from our familiarity and causes our earthly bodies to crave the familiar and go back to what life was or re-shape the new experience into something that looks and feels like the "old place."  The Word says, "I will give you rest...."  Rest from carrying sin, past grief, past failure, past history....the past.  When God is leading us to a new place - why would we want to re-shape that new place to resemble the past?  What Oswald seems to be saying is that as a child of God every area of your life is submitted to Him.  Therefore when transitions arise you hold your Father's hand and walk faithfully beside Him.  There is a trick of the mind which says "I will hold onto my Father's hand until we arrive at what I perceive to be the destination...and then I will let go because I have arrived."  Dear friends life in Christ is never arriving at a destination.  Our ultimate destination is Heaven.  We must keep our hand fully in His to be lead.  We must put away our future thoughts of what might be and who we are so that we might be fully in His rest and thereby fully in His Will.  This is the ultimate act of releasing control to become a child of God.  When we find ourselves asking "Lord what is Your Will?" as Chambers shares above - we are out of His Will.

Here is a list of helpful things you can do to remain a child of God.

1.  Know the Lord God through His Word.  Memorize it. Keep it fresh morning and night.
2.  Pray for a clear understanding from God.  Open your hand to Him each morning in preparation to walk in obedience with Him all day long.
3.  Let go of anything that puts you in a disintegrating relationship with Christ or that feels like guilt or sin.  Make a list of all the things that may separate you from a full life of rest in Christ and begin to release those with the help of the Holy Spirit.
4.  See yourself as God sees you - His child.  Not a father, mother, sister, brother...but His child.  Think about how you see your own children and then try to imagine how God sees you.  
5.  Pray to God as a Father.  Ask for those things that you want.  Just as a child asks, so should you.  Our Father wants to give His children the very best.  Pray for the best in your life.

Matthew 11:28 reminds us "Come ye who are heavy laden and I will give you rest."

I pray that today is the start of a new relationship between you and God.  That of child and Father.  Trustor and Protector.  Innocent and unmoveable, unshakeable Rock.

Blessings.

**Cathy is a writer, speaker and worship leader.  You may contact her for engagements at cwoolaway@yahoo.com or 217.521.2070.