Whether a new morning, a new year, or whatever each “new” God gives holds the promise of fresh starts and new beginnings. I looked out my window this morning with childlike awe. Overnight while I slept, God worked decorating each leafless branch with layers of delicate frost until everything reflected the sun with kisses of glamor. I sat admiring the beauty as if He personally hand-delivered it to me.
All too soon the wind will shake each frozen crystal from its fragile mooring. For now, I soak in the glory of the morning. We don’t know, do we? We don’t know where each beginning will take us or how it will end. How soon or strong the winds might blow … We trust as we embrace fresh starts and new beginnings. Perhaps the greatest level of trust comes when we submit our lives into God’s care, yielding ourselves to Him. This is the ultimate trust and new beginning!
“ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”
1 Peter 1:3
April recently shared her “fresh start” with me:
“The most profound moment of my life was when God revealed my name to me, “Beloved.” It was one of those rare moments that I was just thanking him for loving me and always steering me back when I “run amuck”. I don’t know why and I don’t deserve it, but he loves me.
I had the image of a black sheep in my head and him coming to my constant rescue. I thought, “Sorry, God, but thank you”, in a playful sense. It almost made me giggle … (a reckless love). And in that moment, God kissed my head and reminded me of my name, “Beloved.” It wasn’t that I was a misfit or a black sheep; it was who I am to him.
I cried for hours. I felt him speak back and kiss my head. I’ve never known what love was to the sense that God is and has for me. From that day, God graced me with his love for me, and I now have faith. I am his Beloved and he is mine. I am so very loved by him, and I feel like a “baby” of the family.
I am not worthy, but I am loved, and I am his … I feel blessed without merit …”
Fresh Starts
The Bible contains many examples of those who have “run amuck” like April described.
After forty years of living in the opulence of pharaoh’s palace, Moses’ heart was moved to help his people. Unfortunately with Moses, and often with us, our efforts never produce God’s results. He killed a man, ran away to save his life from pharaoh, and worked on the back side of the desert for forty years in fear. Only then was he finally ready for God’s fresh start (Acts 7:23-29; Exodus 3:1-5).
Joseph received an incredible fresh start from the Lord. He did nothing to deserve slavery or imprisonment, but thanks to his jealous brothers that is where he ended up.
“They bruised his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons, till what he foretold came to pass, till the word of the Lord proved him true.”
Psalm 105:18-19
In a single day, he went from desperate to delivered. Pharaoh called Joseph out of bondage and elevated him to second in command over Egypt. Soon, he was both husband and father. God used every trial to refine and position him for success. Talk about a troubled beginning turning into a fresh start!
“And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you … But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.“
Genesis 45:5,7
We could name so many more: Ruth, Esther, David, Paul, and Peter to name a few. After great difficulty, each one received undeserved grace and mercy to start again.
New Beginnings
Long before Jesus purchased redemption for us, God promised that He would do something no one else ever could.
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
Ezekiel 36:26
You could probably share your own story — like April’s and yet personally unique. One thing remains the same for us all; God has supernaturally removed the hard and broken places within us and given us a “heart of flesh” — a heart that feels and responds as He intended.
We each face our own version of hurt and brokenness. God reaches His merciful hand toward us, offering salvation, redemption, and renewal none could imagine.
Just as the dark night of winter turns barren branches into radiant beauty, God works in us — invisibly and powerfully making way for fresh starts and new beginnings.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”
2 Corinthians 5:17
Personal
I’m not talking about something ethereal. The transformation God brings to our lives through Jesus Christ is both personal and tangible. Have you experienced it? Do you know Him like April described? Have you had your own God-moment, when you sensed “the kiss of the Father” and His incredible love for you?
If not, today is the perfect day for your new beginning. A heart-felt, sincere prayer is all it takes. Words don’t matter nearly as much as a heart posture of wanting to know God and yield to His perfect plan for your life.
God transforms lives one at a time — sometimes over-the-top radical, other times gradual and steadfast. Yet we long for the final days — the days when God will make every twisted, warped thing new. In that day, all things become new.
“And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
Revelation 21:5
Only He could! Only He will!
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Would you like to read something more on the same topic?
Transformation — A Renovation of the Heart and Mind
Self-Identification — Realigning to our God Identity
Find Your Identity in Christ