Life is filled with countless transitions—with beginnings and endings. In this edition, Major Heather Rodwell reflects on the transitions she’s experienced throughout her life as a woman of faith, a Salvation Army officer, as a wife and then as a divorcée. Heather has found that in all of the different seasons, God has plenty of gifts to give if we are open to see and receive them.
Every time of transition offers some measure of questioning and anxiety about an unknown future. Anyone who has ever started a new job would know the initial discomfort of feeling somewhat ‘dumb’. Of not knowing who’s who, where things are found, how things work. But how can we know these things when we’ve never worked in this place or with these people or using this workplace’s systems before?
And so it is in life. We don’t know how to be a student until we’ve faced a few assignments and exams. We don’t know how to be a staff member until we’ve found our first job. We don’t know how to be a parent until a child joins our family. We don’t how to find our place in a community until we’ve moved somewhere new. We don’t know how to adapt to an empty nest until our children have left home. We don’t know how to work through the pain of grief until we’ve lost someone we love. We don’t know how to be an older person until we age. All of these things are learnt in real time, no matter how much we endeavour to prepare ourselves.
One of the things about being human is that it is in life’s ‘not-yet-there spaces’ that we discover our capabilities and character. There are countless promises in the Bible of God’s nearness in challenging times, and countless invitations to seek God and his strength. May God help you embrace whatever transitionyou are in. May he bless you with confidence and peace, and most of all with a deep sense of his loving presence.
Christina Tyson
Editor
Philippians 4:8 Contemporary English Version
‘Finally, my friends, keep your minds on whatever is true, pure, right, holy, friendly, and proper. Don’t ever stop thinking about what is truly worthwhile and worthy
of praise.’
Piripa 4:8
‘Heoi, e ōku teina, ko ngā mea e pono ana, ko ngā mea e whai hōnore ana, ko ngā mea e tika ana, ko ngā mea e kinokore ana, ko ngā mea e ātaahua ana, ko ngā mea e kōrerotia paitia ana …’