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When Change Opens the Door to New Opportunities

When Change Opens the Door to New Opportunities

Last updated on: September 6, 2026 at 5:00 am by Michele Gunn

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When Change Opens the Door to New Opportunities 2026-08-28T07:22:20-05:00 Michele Gunn

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When Change Opens the Door to New Opportunities/created in Canva

As I am transitioning to a new role in life and a new state, I have realized something profound. God can use changes in our work to redirect our purpose. A promotion, retirement, job loss, career change, new responsibility, return to work, moving or even children returning to school can alter our routines and reveal new opportunities we hadn’t considered. What if the change you didn’t expect is creating room for a new opportunity you couldn’t see before?

Colossians 3:23–24 reminds us, “Whatever you do, do from the heart, as for the Lord and not for others, knowing that you will receive from the Lord the due payment of the inheritance; be slaves of the Lord Christ.” Further direction is provided by Proverbs 16:9, “The human heart plans the way, but the LORD directs the steps.” It is much easier to live these Bible verses when we practice surrender just as Ephesians 2:10 enlightens us, “For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them.”

There is a Biblical connection between work, worship and service. When you allow yourself to surrender to God’s Will for your life, you find something more. You can find Avodah. Avodah is work, worship and service.

When Work Changes

Labor Day gives us an opportunity to think beyond what we do and consider why we do it. Take that opportunity to discern where you are, where you have come from and where you wish to go. Work changes throughout our lives. There are new jobs, promotions, layoffs, retirement, changing responsibilities and changing family needs. Where have you seen work changes in your life? How did they feel? Were these changes positive or negative? Were they thrust upon you?

Change can initially feel like disruption when it may actually contain an invitation. This is not something that is often realized even when the change is by choice. If you are encountering work change in your life, ask yourself this question: Could God be using change to open an opportunity you haven’t considered?

Work Is More Than a Job

Work should be living out Avodah: the connection among work, worship and service. It is more than just a job, it can be your calling. “Your calling is not simply what you do. It is who you become as you faithfully respond to where God is leading you.” Vic Clesceri God is leading you to who He created you to be.

Our occupation can change without our God-given purpose disappearing. When in doubt, take time to prayerfully consider what the commonalities are in how you are serving or ministering to others even though your specific occupation may have changed. Because work can become one of the places where you serve God and others, you can see the commonalities if you intentionally look for them. Work can provide opportunities to introduce people to God, not only by words, but also by your actions. How is God asking you to show up for others?

Change Creates Space for New Opportunities

Familiarity can keep us from seeing possibilities while a closed door can force us to notice another. Many times when you are feeling stuck or lost, it could mean that it is time for a change or a new opportunity. Opportunity doesn’t necessarily mean easier or better immediately. Sometimes opportunity begins with uncertainty. It will take work, faith and trust in what is yet to come.

Without change, you may just keep living the status quo. Because it is familiar and often requires little effort, you may be tempted to ignore new opportunities. It can be scary to move forward into the unknown, but the reward can be great. Living the life of “should have, could have or would have” will leave you unfulfilled. Look for new opportunities through change. It can be something small or a giant leap of faith.

Discern Rather Than Simply React

Often people are quick to react or jump into something without discernment. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. Remember that sometimes God’s answer is to wait. However, never embracing a new opportunity will not help you live out your purpose in life. Consider the following questions when a new opportunity arises:

What is changing?
What remains within my control?
Do I need to have control?
What possibilities are emerging?
What gifts or strengths might God be asking me to use?
Where do I sense peace rather than simply comfort?

Take time to discern the answers. Faithfully, enter into a prayerful discussion with God. Sit with these in Adoration, your prayer area or just a quiet space without distractions. Listen for the answers. Don’t just decide the answers. Specifically, imagine yourself sitting with God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit having a conversation. Start out with deep breathing, closing your eyes and visualizing the experience. Take notes of what you hear and what you feel. If you need to, do this more than once to help you to discern how to embrace a new opportunity.

Rise to New Opportunities

In conclusion, rising doesn’t mean knowing exactly where everything leads. It means being willing to take the faithful next step. When change comes, especially in our work, our first instinct may be to hold tightly to what we know. We want answers. We want certainty. We want to know that the new opportunity will work out before we take the risk of stepping toward it. Faith rarely gives us that kind of guarantee.

Instead, God asks us to trust Him with the step in front of us. Sometimes that step is accepting a new position. Sometimes it is leaving one. It may mean taking on a responsibility that stretches you, returning to work after years at home, beginning again in a new place, retiring from a career that has defined much of your adult life or simply approaching the work you already have with a renewed sense of purpose. The opportunity isn’t always found in what changes around you. Sometimes the greatest opportunity is found in what God is changing within you.

God may be Preparing You for New Opportunities

Perhaps He is developing courage you didn’t know you possessed. Maybe He is asking you to use gifts that have remained dormant because your previous circumstances didn’t require them. He may be teaching you to surrender control, trust His timing or recognize that your identity was never supposed to be rooted in a job title in the first place.

That is why you shouldn’t merely endure seasons of change. You should remain attentive within them.Ask God, What are You doing here? What are You asking me to notice? Who are You asking me to become? How can I serve You in this new season? Then listen.

You may not receive an immediate answer. You may discover that the opportunity isn’t what you originally thought it was. God’s direction may even be to wait. Discernment isn’t about convincing God to bless the plan you have already made. It is about becoming quiet enough and surrendered enough to recognize His direction. When that direction becomes clear, have the courage to move.

Embrace New Opportunities

Rise above the fear that tells you to remain where everything is familiar. Align your choices with God’s direction rather than your need for certainty. Then shine wherever He places you by bringing your gifts, faith and willingness to serve into the work before you.

Your occupation may change. Your responsibilities may change. Your workplace, schedule, title or even the state you call home may change. But the God who created you for good works has not changed. Perhaps the door closing behind you isn’t simply an ending. Perhaps God is creating room for you to walk through the next one.

What new opportunity might God be asking you to notice in the midst of change?

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