Everywhere The River flows, there is Life

“Where the River flows, everything will live”
Ezekiel 47:9 (ESV)

I wonder why transitions seem to be heavy on my mind and heart these days. Maybe such thoughts come more frequently because most of my friends are in transition. One of my friend’s is unplanned, and daunting. Another joyfully planned, but not without its challenges, and another friend is experiencing changes that, to some, may not even seem like a transition. I think I’ve had a bit of an epiphany this morning. In every situation we face, whether monumental or mundane, God’s design is that LIFE happens, not only to us but to everyone around us.

I saw Ezekiel 47 this morning as a story of transitions. Ezekiel tells of a time when he was led into a river flowing from the throne of God whose depth progressed from ankle deep to a river so vast no one could cross it.

”He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in--a river that no one could cross.... "

As God leads us into life’s transition, most of the time they are incremental and we feel like we can manage them. Most of the time, like Ezekiel, we find ourselves in ankle deep, knee deep or thigh deep waters. Then there are times when transitions seem monumental - like the river “no one can cross”. Initially it feels like things are futile and we will drown, but as we forge ahead we get to experience what it is to be part of this living, flowing river of God that transforms dead waters into fresh waters – that transforms LIVES!

Transitions do affect us, and in the hands of our God they affect everyone around us too, all because He has chosen to lead us into these deeper waters where we are immersed in the river that flows from His throne. In the end, transitions are not ALL about us. There is a bigger picture - that's my epiphany! God uses every transition I go through for His greater purposes. Certainly I am affected by them, but the most profound thought occurs to me this morning -- my own transitions will have a transforming effect in the lives of those around me as I step into the river. Suddenly, when I find myself dog-paddling like crazy to reach something, anything I can hold on to, when I relax and surrender to the flow I find myself carried along by His Power and His Spirit, and everywhere I go LIFE happens.

I pray, whether it is in the seemingly inconsequential or in the deepest and most difficult transitions, I will live in such a way that "everywhere I go, there is life."

Go with God as He leads you in His amazing flow,
FaithWorks!!