The Uncertainty and Promise of a New Chapter

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As much as we love to talk about the excitement of new experiences and opportunities, we generally don’t like change; we don’t like uncertainty. Think about it, most of the time we’ll:

order our favorite item on the menu

drive home the same way we always do,

sit on our usual pew,

wear our favorite pair of jeans no matter what else we own.

The Story of our lives

So when our circumstances force us to move out of the comfortable and predictable, we don’t do well.  Unwittingly we have subscribed to the philosophical idea that “the evil we know is better than the evil we don’t know.”  Sometimes we even feel this way when it’s the uncertainty of something we have anticipated and worked hard to obtain:

Graduating from college

Getting a new job

Adjusting to married life

Moving into a new place

Starting a new venture

Going back to school

Watching your children move out

These life transitions have a way to reset the familiar and force us to learn new skills, meet new people, and grow in order to successfully navigate our new circumstances.

I don’t know where you are today, but most likely there’s a part of your life going through a transition that might be causing you angst. You might not even have chosen to be in this situation, and you hate the uncertainty it creates, but here you are. Like a unfinished book, this chapter is yet unwritten. Every action becomes words on the pages of your life. While you cannot control someone else’s story, you are the one writing your own narrative. I want to encourage you to embrace this new chapter with its ambiguities and uncertainties and write the best part of your story yet.

What chapter of your life are you currently writing?

  • I have been attending night classes for the past few years, working on my last course now and believe it or not I am getting scared to move on. My degree will open possibilities for me and my family doing something that I love but it may mean leaving the job i have had for 13 years, leaving the fimilar and the known for unfamilar and unknown and that really scares me at times. the voices in my head say what if i fail, but the hand of God is pushing me from my comfort to uncomfortable, it is pushing me from my christian bubble and into interacting with non-christians. i want to embrace the new chapter but….

    • Jon I can relate to those feelings. I was pushed out of my comfort zone in order to start The A Group. I had no choice: it was sink or swim.

  • Greg

    I recently left my last position as a lead pastor and am now part of a church staff in a role that is not exactly my “sweet spot”. I love the church and the vision of the church but I need more time to settle into my new role. Your post help me to relax and anticipate how this chapter of my life will read.

  • Julie

    Thanks for the reminder! My husband and I are new parents and while I love our daughter; it’s been extremely challenging for me! I thrive in a schedule and that has to be thrown out the window. Your post reminded me to focus on what I can learn rather than what is ‘not normal.’

    • With a new baby, the “new normal” might not be normal at all. 🙂

  • I’m actually starting a pretty overwhelming chapter right now. I left the church that I “grew up” spiritually in (and had been a leader in for over 8 years) and have started my own ministry. I’m in the process of raising missions support, connecting with churches and students and looking at starting ministry groups at colleges around the world. It’s scary, overwhelming and sometimes I think about just giving up and going back to what used to be comfortable – but it’s a new chapter, and one that I know will be pretty exciting.

    • In my experience, going back is never the same as it was. People have moved on and as much as you try to bring those memories back to life, you can never do it.

  • I have been forced into many abrupt advances in my life. With some transitions, I have had little faith in God that He was in control and would not leave me to face the unknown alone. In others, I have been lacking in courage and strength. But as time has rolled on, I find myself trusting that God has a plan for me, and He will do His part in empowering me in every way that I allow Him to so I can weather the storms and face the giants that come. He has used difficulties in my life to teach me that He will never leave me or forsake me, and has shown me that in Him I have purpose, even though I may not see it at the moment. Life is still scary, but I am settling into a routine of prayer in everything and doing all that I can to meet the challenge that faces me. Then, I can wait on God to do His part as I wait.

    • In my experience, God has always done His part. It doesn’t always look like I had envisioned or even wanted, but at the end, it’s always what I really needed.

  • Appreciate these thoughts. I’m in a new chapter, as well, and have struggled to embrace it. I’m coming around, though.nnI don’t know if you saw this, but Rob Bell wrote an article for CNN.com in a similar vein. http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/02/13/my-faith-suffering-my-way-to-a-new-tomorrow/nnThanks!

    • Anonymous

      Just read that article too Mike. It does sound similar. How easily we forget that God is ultimately in control and has a plan for our lives. So hard to relinquish that control!

    • Thanks for your honesty and the link to Rob’s article.

  • Sarah S.

    I’m in a weird limbo spot — The Waiting Place, Dr. Seuss called it. My husband is doing the life transition thing of starting a new job in a new town 200 miles away and our teen children and I are quite ready to join him. But have you heard that the housing market stinks? Yeah… it does. Financially we need to stay where we are until the house sells. So I have half a step into this new chapter waiting to be written, and am trying to finish up this chapter. It’s a daily listening for where the Lord would have me be and trusting that I am hearing right. And a LOT of opportunity to grow my patience. I do not like it, but I am singing John Waller’s “While I’m Waiting” on a regular basis (“I will praise you while I’m waiting; I will worship while I’m waiting…”)

    • Sarah, have you thought of this limbo spot as its own weird chapter? Sometimes in the waiting room we learn a lot more about ourselves than we do when we’re full steam ahead. Just a thought.

  • Currently writing a story of looking for a family/starting a career on my own in the free-lance world. nI love this new chapter, the hard part is I have no clue what writing is on the next page

    • The truth is that none of us know what’s on the next page.

  • my husband and I are church planters…… I found this so encouraging in a season of so many uncertainties. thank you

    • Church planting is truly a calling and one of the most difficult jobs in the world.

  • Anonymous

    I took a sabbatical from my family’s business to travel around New Zealand. Now my circumstances have forced me to look at life through “new eyes” as it were. It’s scary and exciting at the same time! Thanks for the reminder that I’m privileged to be writing a new chapter in my life. I can get creative and see what opportunities lie before me.

    • Kevin, I’m vicariously living through your adventure. I find part of my mind and heart with you in the long summer days of New Zealand. Carpe Diem my friend.

  • Sometimes I feel like I’m writing the next chapter in my life by launching a new blog project in January, Some Wise Guy, while completing an MBA at the same time. I don’t know how the story ends, but it’s been exciting so far.

  • Brmom92

    I’m actually beginning to look forward to the “next chapter” as we see our first daughter off to college in a few months. I never thought I’d be at this point, but I love the way God is “growing her up” and watching her take responsibility in many areas.

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