We often enjoy the blessings of change, but not the process of change. We’re creatures of habit. We form our habits, and our habits form us. Then we start to see things just from our own perspective. And when that happens – we stagnate. The truth is, without change there is no growth. When we have the right attitude, every experience – positive and negative – becomes an opportunity for progress. Trees need more than sunshine to produce fruit. Rainy seasons are productive seasons too, and they always come before the harvest. We probably won’t like the rainy seasons in our lives, but we need to understand their purpose and benefits. The Bible says that every day ‘the Lord…makes us more and more like him…we are changed into his glorious image’ (2 Corinthians 3:18 NLT). But to become like Jesus we must follow wherever He leads. That means following Him through the wilderness of temptation, the pain of rejection, the surrendering of plans and those rainy seasons. It also means being prepared to avoid all forms of self-centered living. Following Jesus may mean being in a different location tomorrow than we are today. Once we understand this, we’ll stop fearing and resisting the changes taking place in our lives and start seeing God at work in them. Paul says: ‘So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace…The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever’ (2 Corinthians 4:16-18 MSG).

What Now?

Think about the last rainy season you experienced in your life. What good changes came out of it?