First off I want to talk about those who change for the worse:
We all know these people that for some reason or another reason they just go from the person we enjoyed spending time with, to someone we don't even want to see. What makes these people change? I guess maybe it is just the workings of life and sometimes they just don't know how to handle them. Maybe people just have so much happen that it feels like the struggle will never end. Maybe they just feel overwhelmed by all the "bad" and they just can not see the good. I can personally speak from experience, that the circumstances I have gone through have changed me drastically. Some for the better, but some for the worse. That's right. I admit it, I have not always changed for the good. I find myself more short tempered about some things. I have developed a thick skin, something I never had before. I feel as if sometimes I have been stuck in a valley, battling my way through and I have been scarred greatly by these battles. As the old cliché says, "Life is not easy." and I give a hearty AMEN to that. I guess we can say that everyone has been changed for the worse, just because we no longer see the world through the naivety of a our younger selves.
Now to talk about those who change for the good:
When I think of people changing for the good I think about my husband. He grew up working on a tobacco farm and being used as free child labor. (I often wonder if people years ago had such big families just for the free child labor?) His childhood was one of hard work and he had very little time to be a child. When he tells me stories I feel so sad for the lack of play time that he and his brother had. When he graduated he moved out, got a job and started living his life. He had lots of ups and downs, got in with some people who were the "party type" and did things that he won't even talk about now. He does tell me the occasional story and I can hardly believe that he survived to tell the tale. About 20 years ago, my husband decided that there had to be more to life that what he was living and he bowed on his knees and asked Jesus to save him. He says it was the best decision he has ever made. Jesus changed his life and made him a different person. You see that is a change for the better. I know lots of people that have had the same change. They have accepted the sacrifice that Jesus made when he died on the cross, the giving of himself for our sins, that we may have eternal life.
John 3:16 King James Version (KJV)
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 10:10 King James Version (KJV)
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
As you can see change is not always a bad thing, all people go through changes during life. We are changed by other people, circumstances, and life in general. The most important change is when we make the choice to let Jesus lead and guide our lives and to follow what he would have us to do.
