Many years ago while working in the hospital in middle management I had heard the rumors of pink slips going out. This meant there would be a fair amount of people being “let go.”

 

I never dreamed it would be 91, give or take, of us all in middle management.

 

It was a sudden ending.

 

I was devastated and let go on my husband’s birthday. Thankfully, there was a severance package to give us some time to regroup.

 

Soon a friend called and I had an interview with a medical company and could work from home. This led to another company eventually where I flourished under beautiful and family-like leaders, also working from home.

 

Wow.

Who knew that sudden endings would be such a blessing!!!

 

Likely, I never would have left what had become familiar to me. It was steady and predictable. Safe.

 

Many years later I would end up in a sudden closing of a ministry I’d poured all of my heart and resources into. That closing had a lot of collateral damage that sent me into many years of counseling and questioning my own identity.

 

Little did I know that it would be the end of my girl’s ministry and the beginning of an unexpected, and beautiful, women’s ministry. That sudden ending was actually a God-ordained expansion, but I sure didn’t know it then.

 

Without that sudden ending I likely would have continued doing what I had always done never knowing God had more for me.

 

He was opening up a new and spacious place. Something I’d never even dreamed of. A field I had not yet plowed. A land that would be assigned to me. The next years would prepare me for what I get to do today. I was embarking into a new season.

 

Every sudden ending has brought a soon coming door that opened something I could have never foreseen.

 

I’ve never been good at leaving.

I am very loyal.

I hate exits.

But they are necessary to follow Jesus.

 

God has often had to pry my hands off of a “thing” so they could be opened for what He was about to pour into them.

 

Maybe it’s the same for you?

 

Every time there was a sudden ending there was also a grief. A bazillion unanswered questions. Lots of pity parties and many hot fudge sundaes while in a hot bath.

 

But now that I can look back, I see that it had to be the way it was.

 

Sometimes there must be a sudden ending or we would never pull that trigger.

 

Because honestly…when God brings you into a new season it’s a little scary.

 

And sometimes you’ll want to just casually opt-out and take the less risky route.

 

Some of us would like to just stay happy-go-lucky where we are.

Am I right?

 

Listen!!!

Do you really want to miss out on grand adventures with Christ? Miss out on exploring new lands in the new assignments He is giving you?

 

Do you want to miss out on learning more about Him as you look upon new landscapes while feeling all the little butterflies of His new job for you?

 

Oh my goodness!!!!

Do not forfeit the glorious race out of fear!

 

Gaze upon the beauty of watching Him do things you’ve not yet seen. You’ll find your wonder of Jesus again like a kid in a candy store.

 

And, dear one, don’t ever settle for comfort and familiar. They are destiny killers!

 

And while you’re at it, do keep your loyalty in divine check.

 

Sometimes you must leave a place to get to a place. So don’t overstay your welcome when God has pointed you to the door.

 

If you’ve found yourself in a sudden ending…remember, God knows exactly what He is doing and you, sweet friend, might just find yourself in an unimaginable spacious place you never could have dreamed of.

 

And sometimes, I’ve learned, what seems like a wreck is actually a rescue.

 

Psa 18:19 –

He brought me out to a spacious place;

he rescued me because he delighted in me.

 

“Spacious:”

Strong’s Definitions

מֶרְחָב merchâb, mer-khawb’; from H7337; enlargement, either literally (an open space, usually in a good sense), or figuratively (liberty):—breadth, large place (room).