“Don’t ever change!”  That seemed to be one of the most popular valedictions people used in signing my high school yearbook.  Now I know they meant well but consider the implications – did they really want me acting like an immature seventeen year old in my mid-forties?  

Transitions necessitate change in our lives.  My previous posts on transitions emphasized letting go of the past and persevering through the chaos of transitions.  This post will focus on embracing the change as we come through our transition.

You must realize that what got you where you are won’t necessarily get you to where you need to be.    Jesus took a group of fisherman and had a new calling for them,

And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”  (Mark 1:17)

These men would be undergoing a transition from being fishermen to being evangelists.  They had to let go of their former identity and embrace a new calling.  So it is in our lives.  As Jesus takes you to where He wants you to be you need to let go of your old identity and embrace your new identity in Him.  Do you see yourself as God sees you?

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.  (2 Corinthians 5:17)

As you go through a transition are you embracing your new identity?  Realize that He loves you just as you are but He loves you too much to leave you as you are.  Transitions are a necessary part of life for God to make us into what He wants us to be.