Radiant Seasons: Transition

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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