START AGAIN!
I’m giving thanks to God for the start of this year. 2022 was a blip – I felt like I had fallen behind with what God had intended me to do. I struggled getting back into church after the lockdown; I’d been doing a lot of ‘stuff’ in my own strength and I felt like I had backslidden ‘spiritually’. I used to condemn myself when things weren’t ‘right’ or how I felt they were supposed to be, but then I kept hearing God say to me “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”. Romans 8:1
You see, I had a year of trials and tribulations in many forms: moving into a new house, many sicknesses, deaths, hospital scares (still ongoing) and more. I just fell by the wayside but I felt God saying that I can’t stay down, I had to get back up again, press the restart button, whether from the beginning or where I left off. So, God clearly said that I just need to ‘START AGAIN’.
‘Start Again’ or ‘Restart’ means different things to different people: restart a marriage, rebuild and restart a friendship/relationship that’s turned sour, start something new that’s been put off and for me it was reconnecting with God – getting back to reading/listening to the Word, to be more strategic in my thinking re JustBe as I’d grown ‘lazy’. If I had to be honest, I just needed to be motivated and accountable again.
There are many scriptures that have kept me going. Isaiah 43:18-19 “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.”
That’s where I saw myself in 2022, in the wilderness, wandering aimlessly, just like Hagar was until El Roi saw here,
Matthew 6:33 “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” This is how I now intend to live – seeking God’s will first in my life above everything.”
Can you relate to my story? Perhaps not to my personal situation. But you may feel lonely, anxious or even fearful about the future. Or, maybe you’ve lost your job or your home, been sick, feel neglected, overlooked – just keep doing and not being?
God’s Word is there to encourage us as it says that we, me and you, can do all things, ALL THINGS, through him who will strengthen us and help us to START AGAIN. And when we start delighting ourselves in the things that’s dear to His heart, He will give us the desires of our hearts.
It’s a win win situation. Just START AGAIN – Seek Him and everything you desire will be given to you.
Yvette McDonald