New Life

I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.

Every year, I wait expectantly for the first signs of spring. Buds on trees, thunderstorms that turn the brown ground green again, flowers pushing up through the dirt. As the temperature in Minnesota slowly begins to rise, each day bringing longer hours of light and warmer sun, my gratitude for seeing new life swells. Spring, to me, comes as a promise and a reminder that no matter how hard winter has been, new life is always on the way.

God’s promises do not change. Just as the seasons come and go, so the truth of God and his Word remain. As I think back on the hard seasons I’ve faced—the death of a sibling after a long battle with cancer, infertility, and a marriage stretched to its breaking point—I see the fingerprints of God on all of them. He was near. And I can see the glimpses of new life that began to come out of those spiritual winters.

This gives me hope for the challenging season I am currently in. As I remember how God showed up with his love and grace, mercy and peace in the past, I can have faith that he will do the same, even now.

There is comfort in knowing and believing Scripture that tells us God will create pathways in our wildernesses and cause rivers to run in places we see as desolate. We just need to have faith that he will do this and eyes to perceive the slightest evidence of the new thing he’s doing. Sometimes it takes longer than we’d like, but we can be sure that no matter what we’re seeing (or not seeing), he is still at work. Our God is a God who brings new life, always.

Kendra

Today’s Act of Gratitude

Spend a little time thanking God for what you know he can do, even if you aren’t seeing it just yet.