Avoiding Transplant Shock
Last year I wrote about Overcoming Transplant Shock which addressed the shock that new believers in Christ face when making the decision to leave the ways of the world behind to follow Christ. Yet believers face times in their lives when the Lord physically moves them.
When God leads a person to move from one location to another, a believer needs to be Totally Transplanted in Christ for the transition. A tree that has been transplanted can experience stress-related problems that can kill it called "transplant shock." When tree roots are cut for moving, it makes the tree vulnerable as it loses a bulk of its root system. Even after being placed in new soil, it is susceptible to diseases, insects, drought, and other issues.
What are some steps we can take to avoid transplant shock?
One of the first things I have recently experienced and learned through transplantation is how important it is to adjust to a new environment. Like the tree can experience stress-related problems when moved, we can experience "transplant shock" when we relocated.
For twenty-one years, I lived in the same small town in south Texas. Now I call a city in west Texas home. I’ve been here for two months and must confess I’m not used to all the choices, nor have I adjusted to the time it takes to drive from one location to another.
I've had to be very careful to not be critical of the way things are done in the schools, sports facilities, or places I've shopped. I'm in a different place and I must learn how to conduct business here.
The Apostle Paul traveled many great journeys to testify of Christ. He learned to adapt to the different places he visited. He wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:33:
"Just as I myself strive to please [to accommodate myself to the opinions, desires, and interests of others, adapting myself to] all men in everything I do, not aiming at or considering my own profit and advantage, but that of the many in order that they may be saved" (Amplified).
Secondly, when a tree is transplanted, it needs lots of water to replace its lost moisture. This is called water stress. This stress occurs due to the crown (or top of the tree) losing water faster than it is absorbed through the fractured root system. The tree must receive proper watering for regeneration. Too little watering and it will experience drought. Too much water and it will suffocate.
To avoid water stress, we, as believers need to drink in the Living Water of Jesus Christ. Thankfully, Jesus who is the Living Water, knows exactly the right amount of water to give to each believer. In John 4, Jesus met the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. Parched from His journey, He asked her for a drink of water. She was concerned about a Jew asking a Samaritan woman for a drink. He told her if she knew who He was, she would ask Him for a drink. She informed Him He had nothing with Him in which to draw water from the well. But then in her curiosity, she asked, "Where do you get living water?"
"Jesus said to her, 'Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.' The woman said to him, 'Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water" (John 4:13-15, ESV).
We drink the Living Water by reading the Word of God, praying and participating in Bible Study, thereby establishing the relationship with our Savior.
And lastly I realized that though a transplanted tree is placed in new soil, it takes time for its roots to reestablish. This leaves the tree vulnerable to attack by insects and diseases.
I have learned that I am susceptible to attack from the enemy of God. The stress of the moved created a tense environment in the home. Though I had my personal daily devotions, read the Bible and prayed, the attacks still came.
After two months, I realized the importance of corporate worship. The Lord desires for us to have fellowship with one another and to gather in corporate worship of Him. I have found a church that teaches sound doctrine and has many places for my family and myself to get plugged in--but again this will take time to establish.
But through the initiation of this reestablishing procedure, the attacks have lessened as I worship corporately with fellow believers. I have met a few people I can call friends, lift up prayer requests and feel a part of the body of believers.
In the past couple of months, I have felt the stress of transplant shock. But I'm learning to ward it off by adjusting to my new environment, drink in more of the Living Water by pressing more into the study of God's word and prayer, and re-connecting with believers in the body of Christ in corporate worship. When we live Totally Transplanted lives, we can avoid the pitfalls transplant shock.
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