Isn’t it amazing that you can meet someone and suddenly your life is changed? There you are minding your own business and out of nowhere you meet a person that is interesting, intriguing, and for some strange reason they have captivated your attention. Your connection with this person is unshakable and undeniably alluring. Seems almost natural that you begin to seek out why the person is so appealing to you. It’s not lust, loneliness, or curiosity; yet, even though you may be happily married or perhaps considering deeper involvement with your significant other, nevertheless this stranger has captured your attention. Suddenly you feel the winds of change blowing. What purpose would it serve you to get to know this person? Could this person offer you a new way of thinking about your life? Does this person challenge you to confront your fears and dismiss limitations? What influence do you identify when this person is present?

The majority of people who get married have unrealistic expectations of their spouses, somehow, they think that their spouse will be perfect or never have any attractions to other people. Why do people expect that their spouses will never lie to them? Or that they won’t ever be put in a position that may compromise their vows or commitments to themselves and/or to God? (Vows – that’s another story all together) To clarify this statement, I highly believe in marriage, but as two imperfect people in covenant with a perfect God; the vow is focus on compassion, growth and weathering what life may bring opposed to the law.

In life we get wake up calls, have unexpected experiences that show us that we, our spouses, our parents, or our children are not in control.

Since when does God need anyone’s permission to bless us, to change us, to develop us, or use us? Ironically, it’s in the unexpected circumstances of change or challenge where we get to know God intimately. When we have experiences that no other human can comprehend, we turn to God. Unfortunately, as humans our friends and loved ones tend to be judgmental and critical when we have disappointed them. Far too often we forget that, as humans, we are imperfect and are subject to things out of our control. Why do we insist on allowing unrealistic titles and behaviors be placed on us?

It’s not in our control who we fall in love with, what gender we are born as, the gender of our children, how long we live, or what other people may think about us. It is just as unreasonable to think we can control these things as it is unreasonable to think we can control people, the weather, or God.

God awakens us to conscious truths that provoke discomfort, irritations even self-rivalry. Until we claim these truths we will not have peace. God has a way of bringing undeniable truth and revelation to your life to your consciousness. It takes courage to live out that powerful and sometimes unpopular revelation.

I am thankful that God looks past our intelligence and does the impossible, the uncomfortable, and the inconvenient. Otherwise, we would never grow, exercise faith, and believe in the possibility of God’s presence in our lives. The truth is that most of us live in fear. We hide behind excuses, which keep us from being challenged to change, “Men rather darkness than light,” (John 3:19 KJV). Why? We’d rather live quietly in our own torment than to live openly exposing our weaknesses. We’d rather live in the comfort of familiarity than to confront the unknown or deal with the giants that challenge our level of comfort in a known land. Well at least until a stranger comes along and stirs those winds of change. Then suddenly the things that other people have tried to tell us about ourselves for years are shifted to front of our the brain; and now our consciousness is ripe and readily awakened to chasing after change. The door that had seemed to be a brick wall with others is now, with this new stranger, like an entrance at heaven’s gate. Even without a key, the gates open, and the winds of change begin to blow.