You Have the Power to Change Things

Once we use, say, or experience something over and over we become used to it and can take it for granted. For instance, how many sayings or phrases have we used just this week or month that flew out of our mouths without even thinking about them? That is just so cool! Awesome! What’s your problem? That was really great! Don’t put all your eggs in one basket! Time heals all wounds!

And how many things do we just let slip by without even thinking? One of the major events we can easily take for granted is our right to vote because we are of the generation where we have always had that privilege available. [Don’t worry we are not going to have a political advertisement for any one person. That’s a personal decision].    

But here is a question: what event is taking place this year celebrating a major milestone for women? It is important because it gave each one of us the power to change things. Yet, we take it for granted and don’t exercise our personal right when it counts the most because we think our one vote doesn’t matter much. That is entirely false! The 19^th Amendment giving women the right to vote was ratified on August 18, 1920, after a long battle back and forth in our country. So, we ask ourselves, how many years in the last 40, 50, or even 80 have we made the time to walk up and fill out a voting ballot (or at least drop one in the mail)? Change doesn’t happen unless we do something!

Change Doesn’t Just Happen

We single-again women (divorced, widowed, and single moms) know all about change. As wives, it was what we wanted and hoped for a better union and healthy communication while at the same time trying to figure things out in our abusive relationship.

Certain change—as in the death of a spouse or when a new father walks out on the mom and infant baby —is not at all a welcome act by any means. It threatens our stability and causes a chain reaction of denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance (known as the Kubler-Ross stages of grief model).

Not everyone goes through each of the stages or even in the same order. Everyone experiences change in their own way and in their own time. The death of a spouse, for instance, maybe expected after a long and harrowing illness. Or it could have been unexpected such as a heart attack or sudden injury. Each one of these women will have heartache but experience grief in a different way. Even in these cases, change doesn’t happen unless we do something.

Follow the Leader

Our lives are not the same anymore. This we know—no one needs to tell us that fact. But we may not have stopped to realize, our lives are pleading for change. What have we done recently to make changes for the better? Or are we still, sedentary, and stagnant? Even if it’s only one small thing we can do today, it will be worth the effort.     

Life is definitely on the go. It waits for no one. While we are sitting at home mindlessly flipping through the pages of a magazine, our clocks are ticking. We can never get back the minutes that were given to us this morning as we woke up. It could have been the minutes we might have used to find a beautiful new home instead of staying in the one that depresses us. In the last hour, we could have had lunch with a friend we haven’t seen in such a long time. Change doesn’t happen unless we do something.

Our God of heaven and earth is excited for us to begin a new thing with the lives He has given us. He knows our situation and is more than willing to help us find solutions for the future. But He won’t force us to do anything we don’t want to do. We only must be willing to follow His lead. Although God never changes, our human lives change constantly. And that is why we need His help every minute, every hour, every day. He’s the best problem-solver. Make the change happen!

“Plant your seed in the morning and keep busy all afternoon, for you don’t know if profit will come from one activity or another—or maybe both” (Ecclesiastes 11:6 NLT).