Change is taking place around us — some seen and some unseen. Changing of seasons, changing of fashions, and changing of the land as it sheds its dingy winter coat and dresses in a fresh green one.

God has given us the continuity and comfort in the changing seasons. He gives us a change so we’re not tired of the same weather (I don’t know how the people on the equator deal with so much sameness) and He comforts us with the predictability of that repeating cycle of change.

Why isn’t all change motivating like that? Some change is easy and inevitable and a person has little input.

It’s easy to get older (not necessarily fun, just easy). Children grow and change. You see yourself change over the years just by looking in the mirror (are those new gray hairs?).

Some change is hard, though. Changing your weight through dieting is hard or breaking a bad habit like smoking is extremely hard. What makes a person want to change?

The Bible gives us a clue when it says, “… we eagerly await a Savior from there[Heaven], the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Phil. 3:20-21, NIV).

Love INC’s mission is to mobilize local churches to meet unmet needs. Love INC’s purpose is to help volunteers work to transform or change lives, in the name of Christ. This is often hard.

Volunteers can work to meet a need yet after the service they can’t see any transformation. It can be disheartening to say the least. When I am discouraged, I turn to the Bible and my favorite authors for encouragement. Scripture says that no service done for Christ is a waste of time.

“Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:58, NIV).

Lois Tupyi in her devotional, “Selah: Pause and Consider,” reminds us that when we are serving others our center of attention is on the one we are helping but God sees what we are doing and what needs to be done and what change is needed in all parties.

It’s wonderful to reflect that as He works in the hearts of those we are serving in order to effect a change, He is working in our hearts to help us grow and change, too. In all of the changes we face, the easy or hard, God is there to help us if we just let him.

If you need a change, ask Him to help. If you are working with someone and they don’t seem to have a desire to change, ask Him to help them and He will because, after all, He is the one that creates change and the desire for change in us all.