Who doesn’t like a new beginning? Except when they’re hard!
I don’t even remember what new beginning challenged me so much that I knew I needed help. I just remember the serendipity of finding the perfect verse for my beginning:
In the beginning, God created. Genesis 1:1
Yes! My heart responded. That’s what I want in my beginning . . . what God creates.
I realized that if I let God order the details of my beginning, set my course, use my obedience; something would happen that I could not have orchestrated on my own.
I also realized that this wouldn’t be an automatic gift. I needed to ask God to be my Guide, my Map, and my Compass to help me find my way in something new and overwhelming.
I like what Emily Freeman says about beginnings in her book The Next Right Thing, “We all like beginnings, but we don’t like to be beginners.”
I I tried to take up tennis once. I took a class to learn it. Talk about awkward and gangly. I only wanted to practice when nobody was on the court. I wasn’t good at any part of it: not the swing, not the return, not even the serve. In my head I had it all down, but my body was having no part of it. I was a beginner and even when I tried to look the part, nothing camouflaged my status.
But a beginning with God looks different. He becomes the personal Coach and unrelenting Encourager. He accepts every try to get it right like parents who cheer the first wobbly steps of their toddler.
When I ask for help from God about some beginning, whether it is a new project, relationship, or world-rearranging change; three important truths become my best friends:
I don’t have know the end from the beginning. God already knows where the new day or job or relationship will take me.
I won’t have to start over. What a relief! Every ounce of my energy and creativity that I use to address some new opportunity won’t be wasted.He is my Redeemer who does not waste what I surrender to Him.
God creates something new in beginnings. That’s the best part.The most important gift of any beginning is what God creates in it.
Here’s what I believe, God wants to take us on journeys we could not map out for ourselves. I want that ticket. When I know that God is in charge, I will risk energy depletion, awkwardness, and even living with the mystery of the unknown just to follow Him all the way to the end because I know that the end will be better than anything I could have managed on my own.
Beginnings and endings are a part of every brushstroke of our lives. They start something new even if it nothing more than a day. We need new beginnings.
Stand at a window or take a walk. Remember all that God created in the beginning of this world. Don’t you think He still wants to use all that creativity for your beginnings, no matter how small or life-changing?
Then, pray this prayer with me . . .
Are you in a beginning today?
What has God added? What could He if you asked?
Sharing the journey,
Debbie