New Beginnings
As we move into a New Year, I think it’s important that we do so with an understanding that New Beginnings are truly possible. When we think about a new year, we often do so with cynicism and skepticism. We look at everything that occurred over the course of that last year and we think, there is no possible way that I can rebound from that. I can’t redo that, I can’t make up for that.” But I come bearing the good news. Your new beginning is possible, and not only possible, it’s already in the works.
Jesus died, that we may be made whole and new. The bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.” And so many times we here that, but we just can’t seem to believe it. But I want to let you know that it is true. Christ died not only to save us and give us abundant life, but so that we may be made new. He died so that we could be redeemed, and so that we COULD have access to God’s grace and mercy. Romans 5:1-2 says “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.” That means that because Christ died for us, we have the ability to go to God and for His mercy and His grace to fall on us and cover us. We have the ability in all of our wretchedness and in all of our sin and transgression to go before God and be made new, and the sleight to be wiped clean.
What do grace and mercy have to do with new beginnings?
When we think of grace and mercy we don’t always do so accurately. We assume that grace and mercy are just adjectives that describe Who God is. But the truth is they are action words. Grace is God’s everlasting love for us, and because He loves us so, He forgives us. He calls us worthy, even though we don’t deserve it. He forgives us, though we do unthinkable and what would seem to us unforgivable things. Mercy is God’s ability to love us so much that He holds back when chastening us. He knows what we have done, and the severity of it, and yet in His love He will hold back on the severity of the punishment that we deserve, and instead impart His love and His kindness on us. Lamentations 3: 22-23 says that “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” And what this means is that every day that God blesses us to wake up, He gives us a new supply of mercy and grace. It never runs out, He doesn’t keep tallies of what we did the day before. It does not simply roll over from one day to the next. But EVERY DAY His mercy and grace towards us is new. How crazy is that? That every day, the God of the universe loves us so much, that He gives us a new beginning. He loves us so much that He says yes, I know that you messed up. I know you made some choices that you shouldn’t have made, and did some things that YOU thought were unforgivable yesterday. But I forgive you, and that was yesterday. Today is a new day. I give you new grace for today, new mercy for today. Psalm 136:1 says “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” How awesome is it that we serve a God Who’s mercy never runs out. It never ends!
New Beginnings through Forgiveness.
Have you forgiven yourself? So many times we think that we can’t move forward because God hasn’t forgiven us but the truth is we have not forgiven ourselves. And the problem with that is that WE hold our own selves back, and keep our own selves from being able to accept and embrace the new beginnings that God has for us. What we don’t understand is that once we go to God earnestly and truly seeking forgiveness, believing that He will give it, He forgives us. Right there He forgives us, wipes the sleight clean, and forgets the offense. We however, hold on to it, drag it around like a dead dog on a leash. We chain ourselves to our mistakes, to our offenses, and then we try to blame God for the unforgiven that is keeping us stuck. But the hard truth is that you must also forgive yourself. While you are stuck wallowing in and drowning in your mistakes, God has already forgiven, forgotten, and moved on to a new thing. He says in Isaiah 43:19 “Behold, 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.” God is saying I know that you don’t believe that you could ever come back from this mistake, and I know that you are still stuck in what you did, and how you messed up 10 years ago, but I’m already moving forward. I am already doing a new thing, do you not see that? Do you not see that I have already forgiven you, and that I am trying to give you a new beginning and a new start? See, God is always moving forward. He stands still for no man. And while you are on pause and trapped in 10 years ago, God is already moving forward and looking into your future. He already sees what you are and will be. But will you accept that? Will you let God be God, and will you let Him love you and give you a new beginning. Because it is not God that is holding you captive it is you. You have to forgive yourself for your past so that you can actually accept, embrace, and step into your new beginning.
Know that God’s plans for you are better than your plans for you.
This is a big one. We have to understand that God’s plans for us are always greater than our plans for ourselves. We go through seasons in our lives where it seems like nothing we planned and nothing we wanted is coming to pass. Nothing that we saw for ourselves is actually manifesting. And we get so caught up and lost in our disappointments and our failures that we think new beginnings aren’t possible. We harden our hearts to hope, and to faith and we set up shop in our mess and become content to reside there. We stop praying, we stop going to church, and we stop believing. All because what WE wanted is not what happened. But the bible says in Proverbs 19:21 that “Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails.” And what that means is that yes we have plans for our lives, but ultimately we have to be able to accept that God’s plan for our lives will always be the plan that comes to fruition. And the thing is we really should glory in that. We should be glad that the good and perfect sovereign God of the universe has plans for our lives that overrule ours. Because if we were honest with ourselves, half of the things that we plan for our lives are harmful, they don’t bear any fruit, they could potentially ruin us, they don’t fully display and make use of our gifts and potential. And so God says I know that you have a plan for your life, but “I know the plans that I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not harm you. Plans for good and not evil. Plans for an intended end.” (Jeremiah 29:11) God knows what is best for us. He knows what He has put in us, and what He has called us to do. And so we have to understand that because He loves us, and He has seen our beginning and end, that when we face failures and disappointments, and when our plans don’t work out, and that when a dream that we had for ourselves fails and dies, that it’s not the end. It simply a new beginning with God. He is always taking us from glory to glory season to season. And so we have to learn that we can’t stay stuck in our failures, trapped by our disappointments. We have to learn how to embrace the death of an old thing, so that God can in fact bring us into a new one.
It is my sincerest hope that as we head into this new year, and as we take on new endeavors, that we never stop believing in God’s ability and willingness to give us new beginnings. I pray that you come into this New Year, with the mindset that last year has died and gone. That I may have faced some things last year that I did not like, I may have encountered some setbacks and some resistance, I may have endured some failures and disappointments. But my new beginning is here, and God is ready to do a new thing!
Embrace it, believe it, and receive it!
Happy New Year Queens, and here's to new beginnings!
-Amanda Hill, Founder of Queendom Peak