Walk into your new!

I was an English major in college and the daughter of a former journalist so I like build up when I'm writing. I like to have an introduction and a thesis statement so you know the point of whatever I'm writing early on. I'm comfortable with that! So when God just comes straight out with something, I get nervous. I struggle to just write that one thing without prefacing it with a story or a metaphor or something. But today, God simply told me to tell you to walk into your new!

He sent me straight to Isaiah 43. "Forget about what's happened; don't keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand new. It's bursting out! Don't you see it? There it is! I'm making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands." (vs 18 - 19, MSG) Some of you have been so focused on what was and even what is currently going on that you have missed the joy of what is coming. God has promised to do a new thing in you, in your heart, in your ministry, in your marriage but you keep missing the excitement because you are caught up in the worry and the wondering. Today, God is saying cast those old weights of the past to the side and walk into your new! I love this passage of scripture because the whole chapter is God reminding His people of who He is. He is reminding them of who He has been to them - Redeemer, Deliverer, Creator, and Protector! He is reminding them that He is their present and future help. And you know what? He has not changed because He is all of those to you as well. It's time to stop worrying about the "former things" as the New King James Version says and walk into the new thing that God is doing.

Can I just tell you that what's coming is so much better than what has been? God has great plans for you and as Jeremiah 29:11 says, they are plans "of peace and not evil, to give you a future and a hope." I'd like to think that if God has plans for me, they don't involve me being stuck on the past. No! He said, "Behold, I will do a new thing!" That's a promise, Saints! It's telling you that first, He is with you as you transition and second that He is doing the work! Nowhere in that passage does it ask you to make anything happen. Nope, He just basically tells you to pay attention as He does it! So why would He tell me to tell you walk into your new and not just wait? Simple! Because the key to walking is that you are acknowledging that He is doing something amazing and you trust Him enough to go where He's taking you. You have so much in you that God is getting ready to use. Don't miss your road out of your desert or your river through dry place by worrying about what was! Get up and walk into your new!

Amen...