When Life Happens... Change

I found myself more satisfied with a mountain dew or coke. After I graduated college I needed a side job. So, I got a job at Starbucks. And the supervisor told me that today I was going to have a coffee tasting. It’s going to be black coffee. I thought.... oh no! They’re going to find me out! I don’t know what to do! I can’t leave, because that’s not right.... I guess I’ll endure it.

This was exciting! But I was really nervous. I only have one sibling. So this is out of my comfort zone. When she arrives we will officially be overpowered in a hand to hand combat situation.

When we had four kids it brought a better balance for the adult to kid ratios, then we had our fifth and we’ve been out of balance ever since. Haha!

I’ve had other things in my life change too...

For the past three years, I have experienced severe breathing problems. This is a change that I didn’t see coming and it has affected me in every area of life. I cannot play with my kids like I want to, because I end up almost hyperventilating. Going up and down stairs is a trigger also. I have been seen by allergists, multiple pulmonologists, tests, medicine only to find out that I have environmental allergies. And in further discussions and revelations my highest symptoms are from the amish way of farming.

I sat down to a cup of Verona Coffee paired with a chocolate muffin.

Over the past three years since coming to Wesley I have experienced severe breathing problems. I have been seen by allergists, multiple pulmonologists, tests, medicine only to find out that I have environmental allergies. And in further discussions and revelations my highest symptoms are from the amish way of farming.

I’ve been around farming all my life and worked on farms, etc. so in coming here it didn’t seem any different than any other farms I’d been near.

I was instructed to take a bite of the muffin and then drunk a sip of coffee. It was then that I was opened up to the world of coffee. Since then I have only became a bigger fan. Each morning I wake up and make a french press of my favorite coffee.

Through this journey I have had to depend so much on God’s understanding instead of my own.

Birth and Death are natural changes

I’ve been taking medicine and changed the way I eat. We have even moved across the county to try and help solve this issue.

There have been other times in my life when what I saw as slow and steady was abruptly interrupted by something else.

I was driving with my wife and I got in a car accident! The car was totaled! I guess it was time for a change of vehicle. I didn’t see that coming! No pun intended.

There are times in our lives when change happens!

New baby

You are suddenly single again

Loss of your job

Doctor report that surprised you and your family

Driving and it’s a dead end, but the GPS says continue through the intersection.

Whatever the situation you find yourself in we have all experienced changes in our lives.

Birth and Death are natural changes

Need Transition

Birth and Death are natural changes

Seasons change, the sun rises and sets

It’s God’s job to guide, and our job to trust.

What does the Bible say about change? How should we handle changes in our lives when life happens?

helps us navigate through some changing times in our lives.

A parents relationship with their kids is one of the most important relationships to build. Solomon is speaking as a parent.

When a child grows up and leaves the house a parent would want to have these truths embedded in their child’s understanding of the world.

Big Trust

Little Understanding

Christ Focus

Guided by God

Proverbs 3:5–6 ESV

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Big Trust

- “Trust in the Lord with all your heart,”

“But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.”

- mouth confesses what the heart trusts = Love the Lord your God, walk in his ways

Deuteronomy 30:14 HCSB

But the message is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may follow it.

Deuteronomy 30:14 ESV

But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.

Mouth confesses what the heart trusts = Love the Lord your God, walk in his ways

Trust -

To rely on or believe in; have faith in

Who is someone that you can rely on? Someone who’s dependable?

Tracy Lawrence Song - Find Out Who Your Friends Are

You find out who your friends are Somebody's gonna drop everything Run out and crank up their car Hit the gas get their fast Never stop to think 'what's in it for me?' or 'it's way too far.' They just show on up with their big old heart

Heart - internal feature of oneself

Passion, Inspiration, Drive, Excitement

These are all words that point to the heart or even bring energy to a person.

So what does it mean to trust in the Lord with all your heart?

Since the heart is the center of our being everything flows from it… from our emotions to our energy.

So for us to “trust in the Lord” with all of our heart it means that he should be our source of strength. When we think we can’t go on, because there’s change that is happening in our lives, its at that moment when we are able to trust that He will make a way and work out all the details that seem like a jumbled mess to us.

Although this verse begins with the word, trust, it is actually the heart that allows us to begin to trust in the Lord.

God is able to guide us when we fully depend on Him.

Little Understanding

- “do not lean on your own understanding.”

Christ-focused

Proverbs 3:5b ESV

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

The Message “Our Lord is great, with limitless strength; we’ll never comprehend what he knows and does.”

Spirit-guided

10 He does great and unsearchable things,

Psalm 147:5 The Message

Our Lord is great, with limitless strength; we’ll never comprehend what he knows and does.

The Message Psalm 147

Our Lord is great, with limitless strength;

we’ll never comprehend what he knows and does.

wonders without number.

So many times in our lives we want to see the road ahead so that we can be prepared for the obstacles ahead. But that doesn’t help us follow Jesus closer when we have all the answers.

In times of change there are a lot of unknowns...

The Holy Bible: Holman Christian Standard Version. (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2009), .

maybe its

Maybe you are trying to figure out how best to care for your kids, or family member that is going to be living closer than before?

Maybe you are trying to figure out how to pay the bills that keep piling up from month to month?

Many times in my life I have seen the hand of God more clearly when I didn’t see the clear pathway ahead. It was then that I had to depend and trust on God more closer than ever.

I’ve been around farming all my life and worked on farms, etc. so in coming here it didn’t seem any different than any other farms I’d been near.

Through this journey I have had to depend so much on God’s understanding instead of my own.

When I’ve talked with the doctors and experts about lungs and pulmonology I am not able to understand everything, but what the doctor does help me do is understand what I need to. I’ve been on as much as 3 inhalers and other medicine that I took everyday. In moving forward we came to the conclusion that I have environmental allergies to the type of farming that the Amish do. Not every farmer in this country spreads manure on their fields as fertilizer. I had a decision to make: take more medicine and continue to for the rest of my life or make a drastic change.

I’ve been taking medicine and changed the way I eat. We have event moved across the county to try and help solve this issue.

God is able to guide us when we fully depend on Him.

Christ focused

“In all your ways acknowledge him,”

I read an article recently that said, “young people are turning away from church and religion, because they weren’t modeled by their parents what following Jesus is really about”

Spirit-guided

I would like us to sit on that for a moment.

Maybe you grew up going to church, maybe you didn’t. Maybe you grew up with a father and mother, maybe you had one or the other. The point is that no matter your background, you were taught how to live, what was important as well as what didn’t matter.

Maybe you grew up with a father and mother, maybe you had one or the other. The point is that no matter your background

If we want to raise a generation that is Christ focused, then it starts with us! It is more than having a time in your day to read the Bible and pray. It involves talking to your family and friends about your journey of following Jesus.

Solomon says here, “in all your ways acknowledge him”.

That’s everything, from your morning routine to your drive home to your evening routine to when you don’t feel like doing what needs to be done around the house.

In my journey with how to manage my breathing I had a decision to make and through the focus I kept on Christ it was the best time to make a drastic decision which was guided by God. I had to make a decision that would affect the quality of my life and my kids relationship with me as we continue to be guided by God. I had to release it fully to God for Him to speak on what His will is in the situation I was facing.

God is able to guide us when we fully depend on Him.