Change. Webster defines change like this: to make different in some particular; to alter; to make radically different; to transform.

Change. Mostly, I don't like change. I like to know what's going to happen, when it's going to happen, where it's going to happen, and who I'll be with when it happens. But, the year 2011 brought tremendous change for our family.

Our lives were made different in many particulars; our lives were altered, made radically different, and, truly, transformed.

The year started with Deric receiving a drastic salary reduction. A few months later we left the church we had called home for 14 years. Mid-summer, we learned that a substantial financial agreement made between Deric another party was going sour. That same month Deric quit the job he'd held for four years for a job with less pay and benefits. In the Fall we made the decision to place the boys in public school for the first time. My hopes for landing a teaching job were shattered. Dylan started middle school. Eli started Kindergarten.

I know for many - even for some of my close friends - this list sounds easy. You experienced much more troubling issues during the year 2011. But, we were in our comfort zone - and we were forced out of it.

Change is inevitable. Think about it. Everything changes. There's nothing we can do to stop it. Our jobs change. Our cars change - our houses - our pets - our likes and dislikes - our viewpoints - our waistbands (you know I had to say it).

 As much as we don't like it - through death or divorce or other causes - our family changes...

...our friends change...

...life is all about change.

The year 2011 helped me realize that change isn't all bad. Ok. When your husband comes home and says his salary has been cut, it's not a good day. But, for the most part, all of the changes that 2011 brought for my family were blessings in disguise.

Deric now works 10 minutes from home, as opposed to 40 miles away (an hour commute with rush hour traffic). God has blessed us in that he spends more time at home and has more flexibility than before. Looking back we can see how God was leading him to leave his job in Norcross. It was God's plan all along. Not our plan.

The boys are in public school. Now, I will admit that - if we could afford it - they would still be in Christian school. I wasn't too concerned about Eli adapting, but Dylan had been in the same school since 1st grade. I was concerned for him. But, God has helped Dylan adjust - through little things - like the band director asking him to play in the 7th grade jazz band, even though he's a 6th grader - and he's now in a gifted program. It's all worked out just fine. And, you know what? God didn't need our help. Again, He had a plan all along.

Another big change...

...and this is a big one...

...and, really, 2011 was just the culmination of the change...

...but...

I'm not Gladys anymore.

Phew...

...there, I said it.

You see, I was more like Gladys than I dared to admit when I donned her gray wig, blue dress, white gloves and oversized Bible. To steal one of her lines, I was judgmental and bound to the law and tradition. You might say I was a modern-day Pharisee.

I have learned so much over the past year or so. I don't have to try to please anyone - not anyone here on Earth - not you (sorry if that bursts your bubble), not a priest, pastor, pope, deacon, elder, parishioner, friend, family or foe. My only goal is to please my Lord and Master.

Another thing.

Gladys always made sure she had on her 'Sunday best,' carried the biggest KJV Bible she could find when going to church, and was very careful to make sure everyone around her heard her money clang when she dropped it into the offering plate. She looked down on people who did any less - you know, those people who wear just anything (*gasp* even shorts!) to church - surely they could afford one decent outfit for Sunday. And, the audacity of those other people who insist on reading anything BUT the King James Version.

I was like that to some extent.

I've learned that it doesn't matter what you look like, how big your Bible is, how much you tithe (ok - go ahead, chastise me for saying that. You probably don't know as much about tithing as you think you do. But, that's another blog for another day.). For you see, many of us need to be reminded that man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. I'll go out on a limb here and say that God had rather someone attend church wearing ratty clothes and shoes who had an honest, pure heart than someone wearing a 3 piece suit and tie who had sin in his heart.

Bound to the law and tradition.

Not anymore. I've changed.

That's doesn't mean I've gone off the deep end.

It just means that I've tried to focus more on God and value what He values.

Now. Earlier I said everything changes. That isn't true. There are a few things that don't change.

God never changes. His Word never changes. In Malachi God says, 'For I am the Lord, I change not.' We can rest assured that the promises He made do not change. God, unlike mankind, never changes.

So, looking back over the year 2011, I'm thankful that I didn't get my way. I'm thankful that God answered no to many, many prayers from me. If 2011 taught me anything, it's to be patient in prayer, to sit back and watch sometimes - because God's plan is always better than anything I could ever ask for.

When God knocks on your Gladys-like heart's door, don't be afraid to answer it. Don't be afraid to change, worried about what other Gladys-like people will think. Because, in the end, their opinions don't matter anyway.

Oh, by the way, Happy New Year!