Prepared for NEW Life

The simple three letter word – NEW – brings excitement. But new is only new because we have experienced old, it’s the old that prepares us.

As the year comes to a close, I wait in prayer for God’s direction for the coming year. That direction comes from a single word or phrase that He speaks to my heart. Usually anticipation is stirred, yet never is it fully understood till that year is coming to completion. I have found each year builds upon the next.

Examples are found all around us. Every mother, human, bird or animal, prepares for the little one growing within. As she steps into a new season of life, first her body and then environment is readied for that new life. Every skyscraper begins with a plan and slowly rises to its glory as every acquisition and placement is meticulously overseen. And every career is achieved only by understanding and applying subject levels, one at a time.

Each of these examples requires determination, hard work, stuggles and painful failures. However the hoped for outcome drives and encourages the embracing of joy-filled anticipation. We chose not to dwell on the past but to accept that past as preparation; a prerequisite for what is ahead. We look forward to the NEW that stands before us.

So today, as you look back at the past year don’t slam the door with a “good riddance” declaration; instead embrace it as preparation for the NEW that is ahead. Be thankful for your past year of struggle or abundance for it has been your preparation for the NEW – the NEW that a loving God has planned for you. Trust Him that He is preparing you for His plans and purposes. Where ever that may take you, trust that He will make a way.

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 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 43:18–19, NIV)

Rust-bucket to Useable Glory

The old, rusted-out truck rattled to a stop on the back of a flatbed truck. To me, it was ready for the junk yard “crusher”, but to my friend it was a beauty waiting to be revealed. What it would require, would take an unfathomable amount of time and labor. Every screw, bolt and wire, and every scrap of metal would be removed from the interior and exterior. The stripping, scrapping and sanding of every rusty spot would consume months. Pieces unable to be fixed would need to be found – and the finding of those old original parts, would be a job in itself. Bumpers, headlights, seats and even armrests must be exactly right to complete this restoration. At its completion, it couldn’t just look great, it must also be able to function as it should; thus, requiring complete reconstruction of everything under the anticipated, shiny hood. It must be useable – its original purpose must be restored. The end result for the restorer: a stunning transformation from rust-bucket to useable glory.

The word restoration stirs in us an immediate response – one of hope. When we hear it, we anticipate renewal in all areas of our lives; relationships, finances and health are just a few. We expect a quick change, a change that we hope will miraculously transform us, others and our circumstances.

So, when God spoke to my heart and my church, that 2020 would be a year of restoration; I was excited, anticipating all that God would do. Then March came with a deadly virus and a “lockdown.” But now, as 2020 nears its end, I look back and realize that God has been faithful in His promise of restoration.

Restoration is a process – a hard, grueling process. What is true for the restoration of a truck is even more valid for you and me. Each of us have walked through this year differently. The pain and hardships have been very real and daunting. Yet, I have felt the close presence of the Lord through every step. He was there with me; teaching, whispering, encouraging and sometimes carrying me. His transformation in our lives is found in the middle of the stripping, scrapping and sanding – the very process of restoration – the process that this year has accomplished in each of us. We have all gone through that same process, this year.

 We have had to be stripped of all that wasn’t important, scrapped of our own opinions and attitudes, and pridefully sanded into a humble, lover-of-His-presence. He is continuing to replace every lost and worn out part, and is carefully re-wiring us to the purposes we were created for. We are changing from an unusable rust-bucket to a son and daughter of the King, ready to carry out His purpose and plan for our lives and those around us. We are becoming His useable glory.

This year of restoration is nearing completion. The restorer desires to reveal and release His beauty, completely restored and ready to be used. Are you ready? Let’s accept this assignment to carry all that He has restored in our lives into a new year, as we are becoming exactly who the restorer designed us to be.

Ps. 23:1-3 The Lord is my best friend and my shepherd. I always have more than enough. He offers a resting place for me in his luxurious love. His tracks take me to an oasis of peace, the quiet brook of bliss. That’s where he restores and revives my life. He opens before me pathways to God’s pleasure and leads me along in his footsteps of righteousness so that I can bring honor to his name. (TPT)

A Blank Page

As the sunrise begins to illuminate the sky, I sit in front of a blank page. I contemplate all that this new year has to offer, not the things of the past but more – more than I have ever asked for or imagined.

A sunrise brings a new day filled with opportunities, but a new year opens a breath-taking landscape of possibilities; the anticipation is palpable.

What are you anticipating, expecting or hoping for, from your new year? This new year is a gift sitting in front of you. God has a plan for your life and it is full of increase – increase to pour out His love through you.

The question is, what does that look like in your life? Jesus desires to use you to impact the world by restoring who He created you to be, your identity; that which He put deep within you, those hidden purposes that make you, who you really are!

What is hidden deep inside, waiting to be ignited, waiting dormant to erupt? Those gifts that you have set up on the shelf, or thought maybe someday? Do you think your time is past, so that gift still sits unopened? He is waiting for you. Accept this new year as a gift, full of purpose – walk into – no – run into a new level of faith that will access heaven over your life.

This is the year!

As the sunrises today – look up, stir your faith, expect Holy Spirit to bring restoration to the once sleeping purposes within you. Watch as He ignites a joyful new life deep inside that will produce a refreshed imagination, explosive energy, and awakened dreams. Step out in faith, access the new places He has planned for you this year. Watch as he awakens forward movement into the agenda He has, not just for you but for the world.

 Ephesians 3:20 Never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this.He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for his miraculous power constantly energizes you. (TPT)