1, 2. (a) How might a Christian be affected by unexpected changes in his life? (See opening picture.) (b) According to Psalm 131, what attitude can help us to maintain our inner peace?

WHEN Lloyd and Alexandra learned that they had been reassigned to the field, they at first felt sad. After all, they had been serving at Bethel for over 25 years. Lloyd says: “I felt as if Bethel and my work assignment had become my identity. I mentally appreciated the reasons for the change, but in the weeks and months that followed, I often experienced feelings of rejection. It was an emotional roller coaster. One minute I felt positive; the next I felt dejected.”

8-10. (a) How can God’s spirit help us to cope with anxiety? (b) In what ways may Jehovah respond to our efforts to maintain a spiritual outlook?

⁸ In addition to calming us down, God’s spirit can draw our attention to key scriptures that will help us to keep our spiritual priorities. (Read John 14:26, 27.) Consider a married couple, Philip and Mary, who had served at Bethel for nearly 25 years. Within four months, both lost their mothers and another relative in death and began caring for Mary’s father, who has dementia.

⁹ Philip recalls: “I thought I was coping well to a certain point, but something was missing. I came across Colossians 1:11 in a Watchtower study article. I was enduring, true, but not in the fullest sense. I needed to ‘endure fully with patience and joy.’ This verse reminded me that my joy in life is dependent, not on my circumstances, but on the effect that God’s spirit has in my life.”

¹⁰ In response to their efforts to maintain a spiritual outlook on their situation, Jehovah blessed Philip and Mary in many ways. Soon after leaving Bethel, they both found progressive Bible students who wanted to study more than once a week. Looking back, Mary says, “They were our joy and Jehovah’s way of telling us that everything was going to be fine.”

17, 18. How can being focused on the ministry help us to maintain our balance in times of change?

¹⁷ Many full-time servants can testify that focusing on the ministry helped them to maintain their balance despite changing circumstances. When Osborne and Polite, a South African couple, left Bethel, they thought they would soon have part-time work and a place to live. “Unfortunately,” recounts Osborne, “secular work did not come as soon as we had hoped.” His wife, Polite, recalls: “We did not find work for three months, and we had no savings. It was a real challenge.”

¹⁸ What helped them to cope with their stressful situation? Osborne sums it up this way: “Preaching along with the congregation helped us a lot to keep our minds focused and positive. We decided to be absorbed in the preaching work rather than to sit and worry, and that brought us great joy. We searched all over for jobs, and eventually we found work.”

WAIT PATIENTLY ON JEHOVAH

19-21. (a) What will help us to maintain inner peace? (b) What personal benefits may we derive from adjusting to a new set of circumstances?

¹⁹ As these examples show, if we make the best of our circumstances and wait confidently on Jehovah, we will maintain our inner peace. (Read Micah 7:7.) We may even realize that we have derived much spiritual benefit from adjusting to a new set of circumstances. Drawing on her experience, Polite, quoted earlier, says: “Being reassigned has taught me what it really means to depend on Jehovah even when the odds seem to be against me. My relationship with him has deepened.”

²⁰ Mary, quoted earlier, is still looking after her aging father while pioneering. She admits: “I have learned that when I feel anxious, I need to stop, pray, and then relax. To leave things in Jehovah’s hands has probably been the biggest lesson that I have learned, and it will be ever so needed in the future.”

²¹ Lloyd and Alexandra, mentioned at the outset, admit that their change of circumstances tested their faith in ways they had not anticipated. But they say: “Tests of faith reveal whether our faith is genuine and has the strength to support and comfort us in times of difficulty. We come out better people.”