Word
Is there anything better than a new pair of shoes being laced up for the first time? Better than a new journal and pen? Better than the first view of a new place you’re visiting? The first bite of a delicious new dessert you’re trying? I submit that there is not.
There is something exciting and inspiring in the new that your brain craves.
That is, until the new is too much, too big, or too soon.
Within six months I’d had a lot of “new” thrown my way. I left a job, home, friends, and life I’d spent nearly my whole life cultivating. Within a week I lived in a new state, had a new apartment, no job, new church, and, shortly thereafter, a new husband, new job, new home, new family, and new name.
Don’t get me wrong, there was a lot of joy and excitement around getting married and starting a new life together with my husband, Nate. But, despite all the awesome, I often found myself kicking, screaming, and generally fretting through the whole process. I was overwhelmed and worried, fearing my loss of identity. I created to-do lists one million miles long trying to gain some control over all the uncertainty in my new.
And that’s the crux of beauty in the new. No matter whether you’re “new” is good, bad, hard, sad, or outrageously awesome, we have to submit to the fact that God brought us into the new and that He has a good plan for us in it. God’s purpose in new things is to challenge control. Is it in ourselves? To control, manage, achieve, or fix ourselves or our situations? Or do we embrace the new, trusting and believing, that God is in control of this new moment?
Each of these new moments are God’s way of presenting us an opportunity to grow. Grow closer to Him, grow in His image, grow into the best next version of ourselves. Sometimes the new is awesome and exciting. Sometimes the new is overwhelming and hard. But no matter what, God is in the new and is walking alongside of you through it.
Music
Beautiful Things by Gungor
I love the lyric that just simply says “you make me new, you are making me new”. It reminds me that God is the one who brings me into newness. And that it’s an ongoing and continuous process.
Meal
I’ve really never been much of a chef, mostly sticking to macaroni and frozen pizza. But the slew of kitchen gadgets that came as gifts for our wedding have inspired me to start taking small steps in the kitchen. The first thing I really attempted with my new found culinary exploration was minestrone soup. Familiar because I’m Italian but new because, well, I was making the whole frickin’ soup. Find a new recipe that feels new/slightly overwhelming but within reach and go for it. If trying out a new soup sounds like the ticket, check out the link below.
http://www.familysavvy.com/minestrone-soup-minutes-instant-pot/
Prayer
Dear God.
This is a new day, a new moment, a new breathe, that you have given to me.
Help me see the beauty, the opportunity, the goodness in the new. In the times it is joyful and refreshing. But also when the new feels too big or too much.
Thank you for making me new, through your son’s death and every day since.
Time
Often times it can be easy to see the new around us. Yet it is a whole different experience to see the common around you in a new way. This week, try to find common thoughts or activities that you’ve become used to doing and try to see or do them in a new way. You may also try connecting with God in a new way this week. Doesn’t have to be mind blowingly different or creative, just look for God in a way/place/activity that you haven’t before.
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