New Beginnings: Grace, Growth, and Gratitude

Behold, I am doing a new thing;
    now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
    and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19 ESV

God is in the business of doing new things in our lives. Why? For our good and His glory. So that this world that is lost in darkness can see God’s light.

But in order for us to see or perceive the new thing God is doing we often have to let go of somethings that are no longer serving us or Him in our lives.

This flower arrangement, my husband gave me, was quite beautiful for a while.

But it didn’t take long for some of the flowers to start to droop and die out. Interestingly though not all the flowers died at the same time. To keep the arrangement looking nice I had to let go of what was dead and dying so that a new beauty could be seen.

Certainly I could have cried over the dead flowers or clung to the dry disintegrating petals. But then I would miss the beauty of what was next. I would miss the chance to develop a new perspective, to see beauty in something I never planned or wanted. When we allow God’s grace to show us beauty in the unexpected, unplanned, new things in life, we develop gratitude for a God who can bring beauty out of ashes.

He turned a device intended to torture and kill into a symbol of victory and hope (the cross). He transformed the grave from an ending to a beginning.

If only we let His grace help us let go of our dying plans then we are free to embrace the beauty of the new thing He is doing.

So are we ready to lay down our old things, so He can make them new?

What do you need to let go today?