Something new

It's always a little strange to go back and read things I've written from different parts of my journey.  To remember.  To find time has gone on. 
To feel new in many ways.  Different.  Changed.  Healed.
Funny how that happens. 
When you are in the middle of grief or trauma, you struggle to see anything except loss.  Questions swirl.  Tears flow.  The body aches. 
Yet, if you know the Healer, His artful hand begins to work at once.  Amazing really.  And the more you know Him, the more you see it. 
And time keeps going.  And interestingly enough, you keep going, too. 


I told a young man the other day that his pain had become his message.  I encouraged him to allow God to infuse power into that message and "Go!  Don't shrink back!  Be brave!"


But I confess, I struggle with insecurity.  Maybe you do too.  Comparison is such a joy stealer.  You focus your eyes on the One who "has plans for you," (Jeremiah 29:11) and you feel peaceful and equipped...even special.  Oh but then, those eyes of yours look down from your once upward focus, and they start to look left and right.  Joy. Gone.  Am I right?  You start feeling less than.  UNspecial.  UNequipped.  And you stop.  Stop believing in the plan, the vision that He had given you.  And then that message--the one that came from all that pain and suffering?  Well, it never has the opportunity to birth anything new...in you...in others.  It loses power.  And the ashes never become beautiful.  Tragic really.


I want to tell myself what I told that young man.  And since you're here today, I'll just go ahead and tell you too:  Go!  Do what you were made to do!  There is only ONE YOU!  He has created you with a specific personality, granted you certain gifts, and allowed life experiences all so that you will be ready!  Will you do it?  Or will you question Him and the way He has equipped you?  Will you continue to compare and live in insecurity?  Or will you believe?  Believe that the "One who calls you is faithful and He will do it." (1 Thess. 5:24)


I firmly believe that God is able to do anything.  He could've changed certain things in your life...and mine.  But He didn't.  He allowed them.  Why?  For a greater purpose.  If we're honest, we know it's those hard times that really make us who we are.  They deepen us.  Challenge our thinking.  Give us passion.  Infuse us with fire.  And soften us with empathy.  This is where we find our story.  Where we reach out to help another on the same path.  We all long for the easier times (and believe me, rest is needed too!), but we know deep down, that we need the suffering...for growth.


We learn something in that wilderness.  Something we know we couldn't have learned anywhere else. 


The Lord our God is good.  He is always at work.  He is right in all that He does.  He is faithful. 
He is our REDEEMER.  He wastes nothing. 
But we can. 
We can choose to let our pain be wasted.
Or we can allow Him to do something new. 


"See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?  I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland."  Isaiah 43:19


"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away.  Behold, the new has come!"  2 Corinthians 5:17