"TRANSITIONS, TRANSITIONS, TRANSITIONS..."

     You know those blogs where people write like maybe once or twice a year?? That's probably what this is going to be. It's one of the few times I feel like writing that doesn't come out in a song. So this is your fair warning to not expect much blogging from me. 

     The title of this blog was the title of my senior-year yearbook. I forever remember what it looks like with its decreasing font size each time the word "transitions" is spelled out on the front cover. I'm not fond of transitions to be honest. I don't really mind new things in life, but it's the times where I can't keep up with life that transitions are the most difficult. It's like running a race, finishing, and then immediately running another race. (To be honest, the only race I've ran was probably at field day...) Anyways, you get the idea. Life is most of the time, exhausting. 

     When I graduated high school, I went to good ol' Georgia Perimeter College, a community college. Now, I'm working to attempt real life; hoping to get my own place soon. Transitions are inevitable and confusing. And the scariest part, at least for me, is that you don't always know how long they will last. On January 11, 2016, my greatest transition to date began. As most of you know, this was the day that my mama, Cheri, passed away. And so now, for almost six months, I've had to adjust and transition to learn how to live in this life without the advice and constant guidance from my mom. It has been the hardest thing I have ever gone through. Even before she passed, watching her suffer from Multiple Sclerosis was difficult. And so I pose the question, that you may already know the answer to:

HOW DO YOU FIND REST IN A RESTLESS WORLD?

Spoiler alert: The answer is and will forever be Jesus.

During mom's 5 years of sickness, she prayed and pleaded that God would heal her or take her. She knew that heaven was far better than this world, so she simply trusted Jesus with whatever he would do in her life. But one day in particular, mom said something that caught my ear. She said (and I'm paraphrasing) that: I know God can heal me. When He heals me, I want Him to completely heal all of me, not just part of me.

     Mom's MS had slowly been taking her mobility away. Each day, she had a little less strength and a little less energy. But she understood that Jesus is our complete healer. Even if he didn't heal her on earth, she would be completely healed in heaven. Mom pointed out that whenever people in scripture were healed by Jesus, everything was healed. From their sins to their sickness, Jesus was sure to completely heal. Blindness was restored to complete sight. Storms on the Sea of Galilee were completely calmed. Several-day-old dead Lazarus came back to life. We have a God who is about complete restoration. 

In scripture, we are commanded to persevere, "keep running the race," not give up, and so on. All of these commands are commands that require work and endless effort. We constantly have to transition or be on our toes to keep going on this earth; and it's tiring. Thankfully, there is purpose in work and the constant transitioning of our lives. Our earthly work foreshadows an eternal rest that is far greater than any kind of rest we can find on earth. Now don't get me wrong, I love me a good Sunday afternoon nap like I took today after church, but Jesus offers and calls us into something much greater! We get to, right now, rest in the completed work of Christ. "It is Finished! Although we may not feel the rest, we get to know, that one short day soon, we will be able to experience and face the reality that Jesus' work on the cross forever gives us rest. What a blessing! Until that eternal Sabbath day of rest, we work, we love, we live, we persevere and point to Jesus, "the Lord of the Sabbath" (Matthew 12:8); knowing that our work, and yes, even our suffering, is temporary. There will be a day where we will not (praise the Lord!) have to worry about transitioning into our next phase of life. We are going to be complete and sanctified by the completed work of Christ! 

     So until this day, we pray my mama's last words: 

"GOD, HELP ME."

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." -Matthew 11:28