Recently I was asked to talk to a group of interns about transitions. I said yes because I’ve had plenty of those. God knew from the beginning I didn’t have a bone in my body that could do the same thing all my whole life, so He’s blessed me with many different seasons. (Ecclesiastes 3:1) Each time a season changed, it required a transition. In fact, one of the early truths God taught me was that there would be many seasons in my life in which I would use different gifts and abilities. He didn’t want or expect me to use every ability in every season. The harder truth to grasp was that He would decide when it was time for a season to change. I could create many problems for others and myself if I refused to let go when a season was over.

For example, before our children went to school, I sewed many of our clothes* because, as a stay-at-home Mom, that season required me to spend a lot of time at home. But after our children were in school, God gave me other responsibilities. Instead of enjoying the new season, I wrestled with guilt because I wasn’t making our clothes─especially when my mother said things like, “It’s a shame someone who can sew like you do isn’t using that talent.” Years later, my mentor told me, “If you’re going to be controlled by people’s expectations, you can’t be controlled by the Holy Spirit.” We have to choose whom we want to please: God or people.

Here’s what Romans 12:1-2 says:

I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you make of your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may know what is that good, perfect and acceptable will of God.

My definition of making of our bodies a living sacrifice is allowing God to decide what we’re going to be or do or where we’re going to go in these bodies during each specific season. Only when we follow these instructions can we know we’re doing His good, perfect and acceptable will.

However, there are things I love to do so much that it’s been hard to let go. The first time God called us out of foster parenting in 1998 and there were no children in our home for the first time in 25 years, I thought this change of seasons would be the death of me. (I still dream often that Donn and I are in various situations taking care of children.) Even though foster parenting is hard, I missed not only the children but all the other people who were in my life because of our involvement in foster care. So I started training to be involved in CASA which would allow me to be involved in the lives of foster children without them living in our home, even though God had called me to a season of doing counseling. It was my way of trying to hang on to the previous season. I soon discovered that God doesn’t give grace to do things from a previous season. He only gives grace for the current one. If we try to hold on, burn out or ineffectiveness are sure to follow.

It can be tricky to discern between our emotions and the leading of the Holy Spirit during transitions. Proverbs 19:1 says, “There are many devices (plans or schemes) in a person’s heart; but the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand.” Just because we LOVE doing something or can do it well, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s God’s plan for us in this season. That excited, woo hoo feeling we get at the thought of doing something we love may just be our flesh getting all excited, not the direction of the Holy Spirit.

Years ago I read about a mental picture God used to teach an author a lesson about this issue. She saw herself entering a banquet hall where people were doing many interesting and exciting tasks. So she approached the headwaiter, asking what job he had for her. He directed her to a table with one leg shorter than the others where 14 people were seated. He said her job was to hold up that corner of the table so the people seated there could eat without the table rocking. She was disappointed, feeling that she was qualified to do something much more important and exciting, but as she began to concentrate on the job she’d been given, watching the faces of the people who were seated at her table and seeing how much more pleasant their meal had become as their table stabilized, she forgot about all the other jobs she’d wanted to do.

As the author thought about this mental picture, she realized there were 14 people to whom she was giving support, and the headwaiter, Jesus, would not be impressed if He found her doing  jobs she considered more important or interesting than the job He’d given her. When she cried out to Him, as most of us do, “But Lord, what about what other people expect of me?” He answered her, “What I expect is more important.” We must not allow our flesh to draw us or people to guilt us into taking on or staying in roles that do not fit our present time and season.

Father, forgive us when we care more about pleasing others than pleasing you. Help us make of our bodies a living sacrifice, allowing you to guide and direct our lives. Amen.

*In these pictures, we’re all wearing clothes I made during that season.