Taking the Next Step

READ: GENESIS 12:1-8; ROMANS 8:28-39

“But I don’t want to go.”

For months I begged Mom. I didn’t want to leave our home to move to a new state hundreds of miles away. I didn’t want to say goodbye to friends and neighbors I had known forever. I didn’t want to start all over again, especially in the middle of the school year.

“Why can’t I stay here?”

But I knew why. Cancer. We had lived in Florida my whole life, but now Mom’s doctor said the Florida weather didn’t pair well with her treatment. So my dad took a new job in North Carolina. And they would not leave me behind.

I just wished we didn’t have to move so far away.

Change was scary. Making new friends had always been hard for me. Would they like me? Would I do well in school? What if I didn’t like it?

In Genesis 12, God told Abraham to leave his home in Haran and take his family to Canaan… hundreds of miles away. So Abraham gathered his family and everything they owned and walked across a hot, dusty land to their new home. When they arrived, he pitched a tent and built an altar, “and he called on the name of the LORD” (verse 8).

But I often wonder: Was Abraham afraid to go? Did he ever ask God if he could stay? What gave Abraham hope during this time of transition?

The answer? Abraham looked ahead at what God had promised him—to make a great nation in this new place. In the same way, we can trust in the promises God has given to us, His people.

Because Jesus died and rose again, everyone who puts their faith in Jesus is part of God’s family, His nation (1 Peter 2:9). God is always working in our lives, and He is using even the toughest situations for our good (John 5:17; Romans 8:28). One day, Jesus will make all things new—then terrible things like cancer and homesickness will be gone forever. But in the meantime, we can take the next step knowing He’ll be with us through it all. • Carolyn Bennett Fraiser

• What changes are you facing in your life? What next steps might God be calling you to take?

• How can Jesus’s promise to be with us affect the way we see any situation?

[Jesus said,] “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:20 (CSB)