The following is an excerpt from Cross-Cultural Transition Training, a seminar Kristi has given for ministry workers who are making the move into or away from a new culture of service.
As I have meditated on the connection between God’s story and the story of transition, a couple truths have stood out to me. Transition tends to make us more aware of our desires. Like Adam and Eve, we see what is beautiful and desirable and seek those things outside of God’s good design. The voice that says, “Did God really say?” is loud. Our desire for connection. Our desire for stability. Our desire to be rooted are not bad desires. Yet if we seek to meet those desires our own way and in our own timing, we are following the patterns of Adam and Eve. Transition is a great time to be aware of our desires and to allow Yahweh to disciple our desires. What does He say about those desires? How does he want to meet them or not meet them?
Additionally, God uses transition to turn people from being self-dependent to being God-dependent. It is easy to depend on ourselves in the daily-ness of life. The chaos of transition is a reminder that all we are and everything we have comes from God. He is intended to be the center of our story. I have been studying through Chronicles and keep being struck by the moments when Judah looks to Yahweh for help and the times when they look to Israel or another nation for their help. The chaos of transition is often the place of greatest spiritual growth and development. It is in the story of transition where we recognize our need for God and we have the opportunity to exercise new spiritual muscles.
Another key truth about God’s story and transition is that God does not intend to take us back to the Garden, but to prepare us for Eternity. God is not trying to take us back to a place of engagement and belonging like we were before transition began. We are not being restored to our former selves. He is doing something new in you that has the potential to result in growth and greater intimacy with Him. We are people of the Resurrection. Our stories are lived in light of the fact that death is never the final word. Transition is a death that has the potential to lead to new life.
Yahweh is moving you forward, not taking you back to the starting point. You were shaped by the previous seasons of your life. You will bring that into this place. And Yahweh will continue to grow you. You are not intended to go back to who you were and what life was like before you left. We may want to go back to Egypt, but that isn’t where our life is now.
