From the Desk of James W. Goll:
When you find yourself in any kind of transition, especially a prolonged one, like the one we are currently experiencing, it can seem too hard to bear. The pressure can be intense, and you feel squeezed from every side, stripped, unprepared. Yet a time of transition is taking you somewhere. Although the passage is narrow, it is taking you from a place of confinement to a place of enlargement.
In today's article, I share how the process of transition and change, though difficult, brings fresh life and abundance when viewed and embraced through the lens of hope. (To Subscribe to the Elijah List subscribe here.)
James W. Goll
God Encounters Ministries
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The Elijah List & Breaking Christian News
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James W. Goll, Franklin, TN
When you find yourself in any kind of transition, especially a prolonged one – like the one we are currently experiencing from the COVID-19 virus – it can seem too hard to bear. You just do not think you will make it. You wish you could go back to the way things used to be before all of this pain started.
The pressure can be intense, and you feel squeezed from every side, stripped, unprepared. Yet a time of transition is taking you somewhere. Although the passage is narrow, it is taking you from a place of confinement to a place of enlargement.
To keep from stalling, you need to let go of the past and allow yourself to propel forward.
In my own personal life, while going through 9 years of cancer, losing my wife, the loss of income and the swirl of living life in a public goldfish bowl, I heard these words repeatedly: Let go. Let go.
By gifting and calling, I could seek the Lord for prophetic words to encourage others, and He would speak to me. But when I sought Him for a word for myself, all I heard from the Holy Spirit was, "Let go."
For at least five years I had to go through an "Isaac" experience (Genesis 22); I had to be willing to lay everything on the altar. God tested my faith to the limit. I felt I hardly had anything left to surrender, and sometimes, out of sheer obedience, I did just "let go."
I found out that letting go is healthy. Surrender is not the same as defeat; it just means relinquishment of the familiar ways. If I was going to be able to enter into the new phase of my life, I had to let go not only of unhealthy patterns, but also of the old, familiar things that were good, such as my marriage.
Even the good can sometimes be an enemy of the best.
What Really Is Transition?
I used to think that transition was an abnormal state, but I found out that it is completely normal. I used to think that if only I could get through a difficult season of transition, I would be home free. Well, guess what? When you get through one transition... (continue reading)
