Hey there, beloved. Abram Wazingo here. And today
on Radiant Stories, we will continue our mini
series called Seasons. Each episode was recorded
at our most recent One Day at Radiant event.
For our next episode, we're going to listen to
Jessica Sandlin share with us about transitions
in life and navigating them well. I've really
enjoyed listening to everybody speak and everybody's
spoken about, you know, the four typical seasons
in our life. But today I'm going to talk about
the transition period in between the seasons.
And every single one of us have that in common.
Some of us are leaving seasons. Eden, you good?
It's not loud enough? Sorry, I don't talk loud.
I'm not Neil. I don't talk loud. And I'm not
going to be moving around like Neil does either.
No, Gabby, no. That's on me. No, but some of
us are leaving seasons, some of us are entering
seasons, and most of us are doing both at the
same time. And if we're honest, transitions are
rarely neat and tidy. They're often emotional,
disorienting, and stretching. A transition is
defined as the process or period of changing.
Two helpful synonyms. Every time I read through
this note, I have said, cinnamon. Cinnamon, and
I got tickled at myself. I didn't do it. Synonyms
are metamorphosis or transformation. Both describe
change that reshapes something at its core. And
one of the clearest pictures in nature that we
have of this is a butterfly. There's a story
often told about a man who found a cocoon. and
noticed a tiny opening. He sat and watched the
butterfly struggle to push its body through that
narrow space. After a long time, it seemed stuck,
so wanting to help, he gently widened the opening
with scissors, and the butterfly slipped out
easily, but its body was swollen and its wings
were small and shriveled, and it never flew.
What the man didn't understand is that the struggle
through the narrow opening is what forces fluid
into the butterflies wings. The resistance is
what strengthens it. Without the struggle, the
butterfly could not become what it was designed
to be. Scripture teaches us that from the moment
of salvation to the moment we see Jesus, we are
in an ongoing state of transition or transformation.
We are we were saved we are being saved and we
will be saved from one degree to the next We
are back inside the cocoon When I started thinking
about this topic I spent a lot of time reflecting
too and You know, we don't do that often enough
I don't think I don't think we spend enough time
reflecting and I this is something that I say
to my clients often is It's really important
to look back to reflect and not look back with
regret, to look back with curiosity, not to look
back with condemnation. So looking back, I was
reflecting through just the different seasons
of life that I've been through. And the first
major transition that I experienced was when
I was five years old. I was born in Michigan,
Lantz, Michigan, in the UP, right off Lake Superior.
It's beautiful up there. And when I was five
years old, my dad got a job. that moved us all
the way from UP to Dallas, Texas. And my entire
family was in Michigan. My grandparents, aunts,
uncles, cousins, everything I knew was there.
And so we moved just the five of us. It was me
and my parents and my two brothers completely
by ourselves to a completely different side of
the country, a totally different state. And I
couldn't put words to it then. I was five. But
I felt the transition. I felt the disorientation.
I felt... the uncertainty of it and the stretching
and the confusion of it all. You know, scripture
tells us, as we've talked about today, that for
everything there's a season. Life moves in seasons,
which always includes the in -between, the messy
middle, the process of changing. Some of us don't
like change. Is there anybody in here that likes
change? You like change. That rings true. Yeah.
but most of us don't because it's uncomfortable
and it's unsettling and at times it's really
painful. James reminds us that every good gift
and every perfect gift is from above, coming
down from the father of lights with whom there
is no variation or shadow due to change. And
in Micah we read, for I, the Lord, Yahweh, do
not change. Therefore you, O children of Jacob,
are not consumed. So our lives are always changing,
but God does not. So what is a transition? A
transition is identity level reshaping. It's
the space between who we were and who we are
becoming. As I reflected again, here's a handful
of identity level reshaping that I've experienced.
I'm much older than you, Annabelle. I've gone
through more. You're about to. But I went through
transitions of moving states. You know, moving
schools. I didn't just go to one school. I went
to several different schools growing up. I had
different churches, several different churches.
You know, new friends. And then I go to college.
And that's a whole other season of life and a
whole other transition period. I get married.
I become a mom. And now at 48, a completely different
career. And in every season, quietly asked of
me, who am I now? So scripture is full of transition
stories. So just to name a few, Abraham, he was
called to leave what was familiar before knowing
the destination. Israel, they were in the wilderness
between slavery and the promise. David was anointed
king long before he was appointed king. And then
Jesus, we have 30 plus years. I know that that
number's kind of, I guess it's not really for
sure. It was 33 years that he died, but you know
what I'm saying. There was many years of hidden
life before his public life. Transformation always
involves three things, letting go, living in
the in -between, and stepping into what is becoming.
And the in -between feels fragile. But God says,
see, I am doing a new thing. Therefore, he is
not only the author of our seasons, he's the
author of the transition as well. Just like the
butterfly and the cocoon the struggle is not
punishment. It's transformation So as Pam mentioned
earlier, I just Graduated I have my license as
an LPC associate. So I have to integrate psychological
aspects here Because it's very important and
it's really beautiful because God made us emotional
beings So this is very much biblical as well,
but I wanted to do a little bit of research on
what research says happens to us as human beings
when we walk through transition, life transitions,
okay? There's four main things that happen. Number
one, stress. Number two, temporary identity instability.
Number three, emotional ambivalence. Ambivalence
means mixed emotions. You can carry joy and grief
at the same time. You can carry excitement and
fear at the same time, relief and sadness at
the same time. And then uncertainty. But I think
a lot of times when we're in these transition
periods We we maybe think that the difficulty
of it is the hardest part, but Technically the
uncertainty of it is the hardest part. It's the
unknown But okay, can you guys attest to this
these four points when you've been in between?
Seasons of life you've experienced the stress
the identity instability Right the mixed emotions
and the uncertainty and so I want to normalize
that for all of us that that is Expected that
is gonna happen. I have something in my mouth
Like a fuzz or something Sorry Okay, so an example
of a good transition would be when I became a
mom I Mean, that's a wonderful transition from
from going from being Jessica to being a wife,
to being a mom, that's beautiful. But there was
still a sense of losing one identity and transitioning
into a new one. And for sure, I was stressed
out. I was questioning my identity. I had all
these mixed emotions. I was terrified, but super
excited, you know? And then there was the uncertainty
of, like, how is this going to work out? Like,
what is this child going to be like? How am I
going to be as a mom? So even in the good transitions,
I was still experiencing these things. Okay,
so jump ahead to 2022, which I would say is probably,
to date, the hardest period of transition for
me that I've walked through. So, 2022, after
about 15 years of being able to stay home with
my kids, I went back to work. At the same time,
I went back to school. And at the same time,
my son went to college. Okay, so enter stress,
identity and stability, mixed emotions, and uncertainty.
Back inside the cocoon, right? It felt like being
squeezed through an air opening for almost four
years. I'm just now kind of coming out of that
cocoon season, but there's this squeezing and
this pressing. During the last couple years of
this particular transition, I read it, I don't
know what book it was in, but Lisa Turkhurst
had a quote that I actually wrote on a post -it
note and put it on my desktop at work. And I
looked at it every single day. And it said, what
the Lord leads you to, he will lead you through.
Not around, not over, but through. So, it is
proven that the number one predictability of
a healthy adjustment during a life transition
is making meaning. Making meaning of it. As Christians,
we have this. We have this with our relationship
with the Lord. We have this in scriptures. So
there's so many scriptures that I could pull
out for each of these four things. I'm just gonna
name one for each. So for stress, 2 Corinthians
4, 8. We are hard pressed on every side, but
not crushed. Perplexed. but not in despair. Identity
instability. You receive the spirit of adoption
by whom we cry Abba Father. The spirit himself
testifies that we are God's children and if children
then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with
Christ. Romans 8. The mixed emotion, I love this
so much. Sorrowful yet always rejoicing. You
know scripture is full of this. A third of the
Psalms our lament psalms, starting with the how
and the why to the who, right? So, sorrowful
yet always rejoicing. And then uncertainty. Trust
in the Lord with all your heart and lean not
on your own understanding, for he will make your
path straight. So these are things that we can
be rooted in and grounded in, in the midst of
life transitions, knowing that this is gonna
happen. It's gonna keep happening, okay? So the
Christian life is one long transformation 2nd
Corinthians if anyone is in Christ new creation
2nd Corinthians 3 being transformed from one
degree of glory to another God is not just improving
us. He's reshaping us I Graduated September of
last year. I Started working full -time as a
counselor this year February And I'm saying goodbye
to friends that I made at this job that I had.
The Lord provided an amazing job for me during
this transition period and I developed great
relationships with them, but now it's like I'm
having to say goodbye to those and enter into
new relationships. So the transitions haven't
stopped. But I'm realizing that God does his
deepest work inside the cocoon of transformation.
You know, we look back and the wilderness shaped
Israel, right? The waiting shaped David. And
the hidden year shaped Jesus. The in -between
is a holy space. And here's our anchor. Jesus
Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
He is the stable. He is the constant. He is unchanging,
right? In the midst of the uncertainty we experience,
in the messy middle, we can be at peace knowing
that he's our secure attachment. He's our anchor.
We may not always understand the how and the
why, but we can rest because we know the who.
And that made me laugh, too, because isn't that
a band? The who? I don't know. It made me think,
Anil, if he was in here, he'd probably laugh
at me. But it's true. In the middle, in the messy
middle, when things are just so confusing and
the Lord's moving us from one season to the next,
and we're in this in -between, and we're stressed
out, and we're questioning, like, okay, I was
this then, and now you're moving me into this,
and I don't know what that looks like, and I
have all these emotions going on, and I don't
understand what's going on. It's so uncertain.
The how and the why, we may never have the answer
to that. I mean, sometimes He'll reveal it to
us, but not always. But in the midst of all that,
we can feel secure because we know Him. And He
is our anchor. So even in the cocoon, we're held.
Deuteronomy 33, the eternal God is your dwelling
place, and underneath are the everlasting arms.
I love that so much. Even in the cocoon, we are
held. So developmentally, We move through life
transitions. We go from childhood to adolescence,
adolescence to adulthood. Within adulthood, we
experience so many different things. We experience
parenthood, infertility. We experience career
changes. We experience releasing children, aging,
loss, right? Different callings, retirement.
So many different life changes developmentally
that we experience. Every single one of us, we
walk through these things. But God is doing a
deeper work of transformation. This year, I'm
already preparing myself. I have one kid in college,
about to have another one in college. That's
a transition not only for me, it's gonna be for
her. Moving from home, out of the home, right?
Us getting used to her not being there. Eden
getting used to her not being there. Eden will
be in high school this year. So still, Another
cocoon, Susan, is on the horizon. But I see the
pattern. And the pattern is, you know, I can
look back on all these different transitions
that I've experienced, and I may not remember
all the details of every one of them. I definitely
remember the details of this last one because
it's fresh. But the one thing that I do recall
every single time is that God was faithful. Like
he was there. And it didn't mean I had all the
answers that I needed, but he was a constant.
He was always there. And he never failed. His
promises always come true. Joshua 21, not one
of all the Lord's good promises failed. Not one.
So nothing is wasted. Every squeeze, every stretch,
every in -between is strengthening wings we cannot
yet see. The Center of Lamentations the book
of lament Lamentations 323 says great is your
faithfulness the whole book is about lamenting
and At the center of it as great as your faithfulness
and that is my testimony To the transitions that
I've experienced I'm sure it's the testimony
that you can experience like that is the one
thing that always happens He is always faithful
He who started a good work, and you will carry
it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
So I have a few questions for you to think about,
and I actually will have a handout that if you
want to take home that has some different scriptures
that point to those different, those four main
things I spoke about that happen in transition,
but also some reflection questions. But to close,
I just want you to kind of think about these
things. Where can you look back in your own life
and see how God was faithful? What transition
are you in right now? Where do you feel the pressure,
the squeeze, the struggle? How is that struggle
forming you and preparing you for the next season?
See, you're not behind. You're not abandoned.
You're being formed. And God is faithful in the
cocoon. Thank you for listening, and in case
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If you would like the PDF of the handout Jessica
references, just reach out to us at RadiantCHBC
at gmail .com. If any part of what Jessica shared
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