It was beautiful weather for a walk this morning. The clouds overhead provided a cool canopy as I got underway down the trail. I started out gingerly as my muscles screamed from yesterday’s squats and leg presses but I soon forgot about my legs as a chorus of song birds distracted me. One bird seemed to be telling me to “walk down, walk back”, which is what I do each morning in my 3+ mile jaunt. Admittedly, the first few minutes of every morning, I am captivated by the beauty of the trees, vegetation, and the smell of the woods, water, and flowering plants that line the path. Soon though, my thoughts rise from the splendor of creation to thoughts of the creator that made it all.
I’ve been praying about a situation that weighs heavy in my life. As I prayed, I asked God for a new beginning. Immediately my mind went to Genesis 1:1. “In the beginning”, the very beginning of time but not the beginning of God, He created the heavens and the earth. I thought of the sun. God spoke and the sun was created. I thought of the power of the sun and of how long the sun has burned without going out. I considered the force of it brightness and its consuming heat. That ball of continual, fiery, energy with its searing power came into being by one word spoken from God’s mouth. That’s power! “In the beginning”, God spoke and a force as potent and violent as the sun was created...out of nothing but a word. I marveled at the power that has to be present for something like that to happen and realized it can be found in the voice of God when He speaks just one word.
This is the same God who walks with me everyday, who put His Spirit inside of me, and who cares about every minute detail of my life. He is the captain of my life. He is the same God who chose a new beginning for mankind when He instructed Noah to build an ark and Moses to cross the Red Sea. This God is the one who redeemed Israel over and over again as He continually called them back to Himself. He is the same God that gave the Apostle Paul a new beginning and used him to change the world. He is the same God that redeemed Peter back to himself so that he could begin again to declare that Jesus saves! He is the same God that redeemed mankind by sacrificing His own Son that I might have a way to communicate and fellowship with Him. That’s powerful! As I pondered this, another bird call rang out and it seemed to be saying “I need Him, I need Him” and I joined in his chorus and began to tell God, “I need you, I need you!” I need a new beginning. I am desperate for a new beginning, and as I did this, I felt His powerful peace wash over my heart just as the water rushes over the rocks when it makes its way downstream. I pictured in my mind’s eye God taking my burden and carrying it away downstream to a place where it will never return. What comfort I gain from putting my burdens in God’s hands and watching what He creates from them. He is a God of new beginnings. He always has been. He always will be.
I thought of my daughter. That girl was born with more spunk than most and she was a huge hand full during her toddler years. While my three babies slept in the afternoon, I would lie on my bed and cry out to God, asking Him what to do to harness this young lioness He had given me. Often I would tiptoe into her room and lay my hands on her and pray because quite frankly, I was at my wit’s end with her. One day, I laid her down after a particularly difficult morning, laying my hands on her and asked God for what I thought would have to be a miracle in her life. When she woke up from her nap, she was an entirely different person and she continued to be an entirely different person from that day forward. When my parents came to visit, they noticed a profound change in her and asked, “Who is this child and what have you done with our granddaughter?” That is the power of God. He is still at work today creating new beginnings for those who look to Him, for those who need a miracle, for me and you.
I’ve been praying about a situation that weighs heavy in my life. As I prayed, I asked God for a new beginning. Immediately my mind went to Genesis 1:1. “In the beginning”, the very beginning of time but not the beginning of God, He created the heavens and the earth. I thought of the sun. God spoke and the sun was created. I thought of the power of the sun and of how long the sun has burned without going out. I considered the force of it brightness and its consuming heat. That ball of continual, fiery, energy with its searing power came into being by one word spoken from God’s mouth. That’s power! “In the beginning”, God spoke and a force as potent and violent as the sun was created...out of nothing but a word. I marveled at the power that has to be present for something like that to happen and realized it can be found in the voice of God when He speaks just one word.
This is the same God who walks with me everyday, who put His Spirit inside of me, and who cares about every minute detail of my life. He is the captain of my life. He is the same God who chose a new beginning for mankind when He instructed Noah to build an ark and Moses to cross the Red Sea. This God is the one who redeemed Israel over and over again as He continually called them back to Himself. He is the same God that gave the Apostle Paul a new beginning and used him to change the world. He is the same God that redeemed Peter back to himself so that he could begin again to declare that Jesus saves! He is the same God that redeemed mankind by sacrificing His own Son that I might have a way to communicate and fellowship with Him. That’s powerful! As I pondered this, another bird call rang out and it seemed to be saying “I need Him, I need Him” and I joined in his chorus and began to tell God, “I need you, I need you!” I need a new beginning. I am desperate for a new beginning, and as I did this, I felt His powerful peace wash over my heart just as the water rushes over the rocks when it makes its way downstream. I pictured in my mind’s eye God taking my burden and carrying it away downstream to a place where it will never return. What comfort I gain from putting my burdens in God’s hands and watching what He creates from them. He is a God of new beginnings. He always has been. He always will be.
I thought of my daughter. That girl was born with more spunk than most and she was a huge hand full during her toddler years. While my three babies slept in the afternoon, I would lie on my bed and cry out to God, asking Him what to do to harness this young lioness He had given me. Often I would tiptoe into her room and lay my hands on her and pray because quite frankly, I was at my wit’s end with her. One day, I laid her down after a particularly difficult morning, laying my hands on her and asked God for what I thought would have to be a miracle in her life. When she woke up from her nap, she was an entirely different person and she continued to be an entirely different person from that day forward. When my parents came to visit, they noticed a profound change in her and asked, “Who is this child and what have you done with our granddaughter?” That is the power of God. He is still at work today creating new beginnings for those who look to Him, for those who need a miracle, for me and you.
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