Different in the Same Context

I recently attended a conference that dramatically changed my life. I've attended a lot of conferences in my life and the whole point of going to a conference is to gain something from it. My expectation was to be encouraged and to learn something new. I didn't expect to be changed. I think it's easy in our Christian walk to say that we expect to see the Lord show up in our lives and to know that we can be changed by being in relationship with Him, but we can miss the reality of what that is. And when it happens, it's so amazing and refreshing, but then we have to figure out how the change works in our current environment.

I arrived as the new me in an old context and immediately saw that since I had been elevated to a new place of understanding and awareness, my context would now have to conform to me, or I was going to have to change places. The wonderful thing about our Lord is that He has a perfect plan and perfect timing. Since I know that the context is where I am supposed to be and now is the time I am supposed to be there, I can trust that since I have been moved to a new place, my context will also shift so that everything is properly aligned. For a moment, I did think that I might have to move on since I was no longer where everyone else was. Thankfully, the Lord showed me that I was not to move, rather I was to assist others in moving into the place where He wanted to bring them into.

Being different in the same context is difficult but as I follow the leading of Holy Spirit, I can trust that I will be able to navigate the growing pains of change; and I will see the shift in my context.