By J. Merritt Johnston

Change is hard. Really hard. It pushes us out of our comfort zones. It alters our plans. It proves that we just can't control everything. But change is one of the only constants in this life. Some changes we choose for ourselves...others are dictated by others. But like it or not, change will come.

My recent attempts at jogging certainly proved that my body has changed. I ran cross-country in high school, but the pitiful panting on display last month during my jog around the neighborhood certainly proved that I'm not sixteen anymore. Having a baby and way too many bowls of Blue Bell Ice Cream have certainly changed the size of my pants. But all the changes in recent years haven't been bad. My rambunctious 20-month-old son has changed my life in the best way possible. Sure he entered our world with a guarantee of sleep deprivation and a fear of drowning in laundry, but those changes became trivial the first time I heard him laugh.

But even when I can see the value and need for change, there's still a part of me that wants to keep my death grip on the familiar rather than face the unknown. Maybe you can relate. And when I dig into the Bible, I find that we humans have had change issues for thousands of years. Spend some time with the Israelites during the Exodus, and you'll find a group that definitely struggled with change. After hundreds of years spent as slaves in Egypt, the Israelites pray, hope, and dream of deliverance.  God hears their prayers and initiates a wake-up call for Pharaoh that arrives in the form of locusts, blood-red water, darkness, and death. Pharaoh eventually gets the message and frees the people. But not long after he sends them packing, the ruler realizes that it's hard to build pyramids with no slaves. So he gathers his chariots and chases after the ragtag group of refugees. When the Israelites catch wind of this, they are quick to complain about their change of scenery.

Exodus 14:10-12 (NIV) says, "As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the LORD. They said to Moses, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?  Didn't we say to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians'? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!"

To me, freedom sounds like a much more agreeable option than slavery, but to these folks, slavery sounded like a much more agreeable option than death. After all, slavery was all they had ever known. Returning to it would lead to a miserable life, but that seemed to be the best alternative given the quickly approaching Egyptian armies.

But there's something about change that can change us for the better. If we give faith a chance, we just might see God do something pretty amazing in our season of change. Take a look at what God did for those second-guessing Israelites.

Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still." (Exodus 14:13-14, NIV)

Stillness seems like the worst idea possible when an army is bearing down on you, but stillness gives God the chance to bring out His big guns. And it gives us a chance to say, "God, we trust you. We know You are in control even when we can't see it."

He certainly was in control that day in the desert. He orchestrated an evacuation plan of epic proportions complete with parting seas and a pillar of cloud to hold back the army.

Exodus 14:29-31 (NIV) says, "...the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. And when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant."

Thankfully, change never comes as a surprise to God. Surprise just isn't in His vocabulary. So when we're facing the unknown, we can trust His ability to hold back the sea when we need a new course charted. We can lay our anxieties down and take a moment to "be still," knowing that He always has a plan. So if the change agent has come knocking at your door, open it with welcome arms and the knowledge that God might just be moving you to your Promised Land.

Merritt serves as the director of SAGE Girls Ministry, a non-profit organization whose mission is to reach, teach, and train young women to impact their communities and the world with the love of Christ. She makes her home in Brenham, TX, where she and her husband, Jeremy, are raising their rambunctious toddler named Josiah and two miniature dachshunds named Aidan and Adelaide.