Transitions can be scary. Try these five things to navigate right through them.
What can be worse than trying to do something of which you have had a lifetime of fear?
Like when my chaplain at ORU called me and told me he wanted me to sing a song I had written (solo) before the entire 4500-member student body.
“No,” I replied.
“I will introduce you, and it’s your business if you walk out and sing!” Unfair!
I did it. A wall of “fire” turned into a wall of “smoke.”
Try these things to get you to the other side of a transition:
Stop imagining the absolute worst.
There are two outcomes to every transition: favorable and unfavorable.
What if it works out? What if all you have imagined about failure never materializes? What if you transition to another side of life you have never known?
2. Think about those who you will be helping.
I get through transitions by thinking of who I will help. If I conquer the fear, thousands of people on the other side will benefit from my courage.
“Take courage,” Jesus told that to His disciples in transition across a stormy sea.
HE KNEW that a demonically possessed man with 6000 unclean spirits in him needed help across the lake.
Focus on who you will help.
3. Look at the transition as an opportunity.
My chaplain friend only asked me to sing because he loved the song. He would have never asked me to sing if he (and many others) didn’t love the music.
“Opportunity” comes from the Latin word “ob-portum.” It means to go into a good port. Look at this opportunity as a wind of favor that has blown your way to enable you to reach a place you never went.
4. God has put “glass in your nest.”
When it is time for baby eaglets to fly, their mother will put pieces of sharp metal, rock, and other objects inside the comfortable down.
The eaglet gets uncomfortable.
Soon, she is ready to transition to flight!
God is “stirring up your nest” for a great transition. You can’t stay in the nest all your life. It’s time to fly, and God wants you to fulfill your destiny and potential!
5. The transition is your opportunity to learn “trust.”
If you never step out, never leave the nest, never go to the stage you will only trust in yourself.
This transition is God’s way of teaching you, “trust Me.” “I’m carrying you.” “Take one step toward me, and I will take a million steps toward you.”
Take this transition into your “next level” as God says, “I trust you; you need to trust Me.”
I have sung and led worship worldwide since that morning in the Chapel. Your transition is straight ahead.
See the best outcome, focus on others, look at the opportunity, be thankful for the chance to spread your wings, and trust God.