If there is anything I learned when my Dad went through his battle with cancer, it was that nothing ever stays the same.  Things can change in a second.  Or less.  The Bible phrases it as, “in the twinkling of an eye.”

We take so much for granted.  Things may be going smooth, life is good and we are complacent.  We tend to think that things will remain the same, at least for our foreseeable future.  But that’s just the problem.  We cannot see the future.  We don’t know what next year, next month, tomorrow or even the next moment holds.

All during the time my Dad was sick, I kept having this feeling that things will never be the same.  I trusted and held on to my faith for Dad’s healing and God graciously answered the prayers of the hundreds of people who were praying for him.  But even as that healing came, he will never be the same.  I will never be the same for watching him go through his battle.

I keep thinking about the fact that so many of us just take for granted that our lives will remain just as they are.  It’s almost like in some part of our mind we know that things can change at any moment, yet we live as if they won’t.  We really don’t expect a change.  We have a head knowledge that nothing lasts forever but until we truly experience a change, the fact that things can change remains an aloof possibility.

And so it is spiritually.  So many people have that head knowledge that yes, there is a God.  Yes, He sent His Son to die for us.  Yes, Jesus resurrected from the grave.

Satan believes all that, too.

But it is not until we let those facts become a heart changing experience that we can really know what it’s like to truly believe.  That head knowledge changes into a life altering intimacy with a personal Savior.

I’ve always heard that as Christians, we are either in a storm, coming out of a storm or going into a storm.  If I’m really honest, I’ve never liked hearing that.  It’s no less true, but it’s always been scary to me.  No one likes the storms of life.  It would seem that the best place to be is out of the storm, free from all of the emotional turmoil that being in a storm or headed toward one can bring.

But then I got to thinking – which is sometimes dangerous for me.  When life is going good, it can be compared to the absence of storms.  Blue skies are above.  The sun is shining bright.  It’s great to be able to get outdoors and just enjoy it all.  We start taking the nice weather for granted and no longer appreciate it as much as when we just got through some rainy, stormy days.  But when our world goes for too long without the rain, drought comes.  Everything starts drying up.  The blue sky becomes hazy.  The sun bears down unrelentingly.

We start wishing for the evening storms to bring refreshing rain.

When we start becoming complacent in our lives, expecting all to continue to go well, we can start experiencing a spiritual drought.  We can take God for granted.  Reading the Bible becomes a routine instead of the soul longing for a fresh word from our Lord.

But when that storm comes, when we can experience the Word of God pouring out like rain to sooth our broken, worried, confused minds and hearts, it’s then we appreciate that storm.

I still have the sense in my spirit that things are going to change.  But I’m learning to think that all change is good.  Losing a few pounds would definitely be good!  But even the changes that in the beginning start with what we consider a storm, in the end are for our good and for the glory of God.

The biggest change I am looking forward to, the change I find my soul longing for more and more with each passing day?  It is when my UNCHANGING Lord changes me from mortal to immortal, where my soul can forever spend eternity praising the One who is charge of all the changes in life.

So dear friend, whatever situation you may find yourself in today, good or bad, just hold on.  Amazing changes are a comin’!