Have you ever watched your carefully laid plans disappear overnight? Learning to trust God in the transitions of life isn’t easy, especially when the future you’ve carefully planned suddenly changes without warning. A few years ago, that’s exactly what happened to our family.
My husband’s job was coming to an end, so he wisely secured another position with a different company. There was just one catch. Before he could step into the new role, he had to spend a year in another city completing specialized training.
We weren’t thrilled about spending a year apart, but it felt like a worthwhile sacrifice. We could keep our children in the only home they’d ever known, avoid uprooting our family of ten, and preserve the life we’d built in the small town we loved.
The U-Haul was packed. The training center had been chosen. Everything was ready.
Then, the day before he was scheduled to leave, the phone rang. The company had given the job to someone else. Just like that, the future we’d spent months planning disappeared.
When Your Plans Suddenly Change
Instead of facing one difficult year apart with the security of a job waiting on the other side, we suddenly found ourselves staring into complete uncertainty. My husband still left to search for work while I stayed behind with our eight children, preparing to sell our home and move wherever God might provide the next opportunity.
We had no guarantees. No clear answers. No roadmap for what came next. All we could do was trust that God knew what He was doing—even though we couldn’t see what He was doing.
Looking back now, I can see how faithfully God led us through that season in ways I never could have imagined. But we didn’t know that then. At the time, all we saw was a closed door. God saw an entirely different future.
Within months, God opened a door we never would have pursued on our own. That unexpected move became the place where our family grew, our ministry expanded, and we experienced His faithfulness in ways we could never have orchestrated ourselves.
Perhaps your story looks different.
Maybe your carefully made plans unraveled with a doctor’s diagnosis instead of a phone call. Perhaps it was a job loss, the end of a marriage, the loss of someone you love, an unexpected move, or a season you never would have chosen for yourself.
Whatever form it takes, unexpected change has a way of bringing the same question to the surface: Can I really trust God when life doesn’t unfold the way I expected?
The Question Beneath Every Transition
It’s a question God’s people have been asking for centuries.
Abraham left everything familiar to follow God into an unknown land. Joseph watched his dreams disappear into slavery and prison before he ever saw God’s purpose. Naomi returned home grieving unimaginable loss. Mary accepted God’s call knowing it would completely alter the future she had imagined.
Transitions have always been part of the human story.
So has the invitation to trust the unchanging God who walks with us through them.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways know Him, and He will make your paths straight.”
Proverbs 3:5–6 (CSB)
The truth is, most of us don’t struggle to trust God when everything is going according to plan. Trust comes easily when prayers are answered the way we hoped, relationships are healthy, and the future seems clear.
Real trust is forged when life changes and we don’t yet understand why.
What Transitions Reveal
One of the reasons seasons of transition feel so unsettling is because they expose what we’ve quietly been relying on for stability.
We often think we’re trusting God until the diagnosis comes, the job disappears, the relationship ends, or the future suddenly becomes uncertain.
Then we discover how much confidence we’ve placed in circumstances we could never control.
That’s why Proverbs 3:5–6 doesn’t tell us to trust God only when life makes sense. It calls us to trust in the Lord with all our heart and resist the temptation to lean on our own understanding.
Notice what Solomon doesn’t say.
He doesn’t promise that we’ll always understand God’s timing, nor does he promise that every transition will make immediate sense. He simply points us back to the character of God.
God’s invitation has never been to figure everything out before we follow Him. It is to know Him well enough that we can continue taking the next faithful step, even when we can’t yet see where the path leads.
The God Who Never Changes
The beautiful truth is this:
When everything around us feels uncertain, God remains exactly who He has always been.
God’s character doesn’t fluctuate with our circumstances. His purposes aren’t interrupted by closed doors. And His promises don’t expire because life took an unexpected turn.
The God who led Abraham, sustained Joseph, comforted Naomi, and fulfilled His promises through Mary is the same God who walks with you today.
The God who sees the end from the beginning is already present in the future you’re worried about today.
Let’s Learn to Trust Together
That truth became the foundation for my newest YouVersion Bible reading plan, Trusting God in the Transitions.
Over five days, we’ll explore what Scripture teaches about navigating seasons of change with confidence—not because our circumstances are predictable, but because our God is faithful.
Whether you’re standing at the beginning of a new chapter, grieving the end of another, or simply trying to find your footing in a season you didn’t choose, I hope you’ll join me.
Beginning Monday, August 3, I’ll be reading through the plan with women from around the world, and I’d love for you to read along with us.
If you’re looking for additional encouragement, I’ve also created a free download of some of my favorite Scriptures to strengthen your trust in God during seasons of change. My prayer is that you’ll return to these verses whenever life feels uncertain and be reminded that while your circumstances may change, your Savior never does.
Friend, life rarely unfolds according to our plans. But it has never once unfolded outside of God’s. And that is where our confidence rests.
For His glory,
Cheri
