Have you heard it said that the only constant in life is change? It’s true. Change happens whether we want it to or not. It comes by choice and by chance. It comes by nature and by nurture.
Small changes create little disruption. Big changes—even very good changes, ones we’ve prayed and worked for, come with adjustments.
Late summer lends itself to big changes. It may be a move or a new school. When we’re young, change is expected as we reach new milestones in education, moving from elementary school to middle or high school and then entering the workforce, military, or post-secondary education.
A new environment, new faces, new challenges. Change is filled with possibilities. It’s normal to feel a confusing mixture of things: hope, fear, anxiety, anticipation, gratitude, resentment.
Changes thrust upon us without our consent are often more difficult. Death of a loved one, injury, severe or chronic illness, divorce, and disaster may be out of our control. Yet the changes come, and we must adapt.
Family and friends can be a stabilizing influence, their ever-present love and support helping us weather the good and the bad. However, their constancy is but a shadow of the constancy of our unchanging God.
Where change is overwhelming, He is constant. Loyal and never fickle. Ever-present and never absent, even if it sometimes feels that way. When we’re tossed about in the sea of change, we can go to Him with our anxiety, our joy, our fear, our anger—all of it. And he’ll never turn His face from us. We can cling to His constancy, the One Who was, is, and forever will be.
In my coming-of-age novel Rightfully Ours, Paul has several major life changes thrust upon him. His father is deployed to the Middle East, which results in a move and a new school. If that weren’t enough, the deployment puts his only living parent in jeopardy.
Paul manages to weather the changes, but only through the support of his brother, his friend Rachel, and, eventually, reliance on God. Had he sought God sooner, perhaps it would’ve eased his transition and helped him to seek solace in ways that weren’t fraught with temptation.
In Theresa Linden’s Fire Starters, Caitlyn's life comes crashing down when her mother leaves to aid her aged parents and she begins homeschooling with her siblings. How will she maintain her friendships from school and still give her family the support it needs?
In Heaven’s Hunter by Marie Keiser, Randall’s plans for his life have fallen through, and he needs to discover a new purpose. Where will he go, and what will he do next?
Half-girl, half-sheep Mandy Lamb is starting high school in Corinna Turner’s Mandy Lamb and the Full Moon. With all of her differences, will she be able to fit in?
In Leslea Wahl’s Perfect Blindside, Olympic snow boarder Jake has to move to a new town on top of dealing with his sudden fame. Will he find any genuine friends?
In Please Don’t Feed the Dinosaurs by Corinna Turner, Darryl and Harry’s long-widowed father suddenly remarries, spurring a chain of unexpected changes for the dinosaur-loving family. How will they adjust to their stepmom, and how will she adapt to life outside the safety of the city?
In 10 Steps to Girlfriend Status by Cyntia T. Toney, Wendy starts high school, learns what’s important before having a boyfriend, becomes part of a stepfamily, and battles to keep her elderly neighbor from moving, while become friends with a hearing-impaired teen for the first time.
In T. M. Gaouette's The Destiny of Sunshine Ranch, Benedict deals with change on a regular basis as he's transferred from foster home to foster home. In fact, the moves become the norm, and his finding himself at a good, decent, Catholic foster home becomes the change he struggles to adapt to.
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