Experience a New Beginning
The Bible is filled with stories about people who experienced new beginnings. Moses became a leader after being a shepherd for 40 years. Paul hated Christ until God renewed him and made him the greatest apostle of all time.
The second one started like this:
Learn to Trust God's Plan for You
You can simplify your life by learning to develop trust in God. Far too often, we don't allow ourselves to trust. Maybe your trust has been betrayed too many times in the past, or maybe you're just a very independent person. Even so, it's so critical to learn to trust God.
It's easy to get stressed out and run-down trying to make your life work on your own, but that never works. And God's plan is always better than your own. The person who trusts God knows that His way is best.
Now trust won't just magically happen. Trust grows as we take steps of faith and experience God's faithfulness.
There are days when I wonder why I am pushing myself to move forward and why it still hurts when I don't want to hurt anymore. I listen to a song or see something that ignites a memory in me and I just want my life with Dave, back. I know I have to trust God's plan for my life and I do, but that doesn't mean the hurt goes away or that it is ever as simple as it may look on the outside.
We hear so much talk about positive thinking and how it changes our lives. I think sometimes we focus on that too much and ignore the pain but there needs to be a balance. While it's good to count our blessings, it's also important to acknowledge our hurts and worries. The truck driver was relieved that I had a positive attitude when he delivered only half of my stuff last Tuesday with the other half to be delivered a week later. He was glad that I could smile about not having a vacuum cleaner, a microwave, a broom and a mop and was grateful that I told him that this way I could unpack in manageable chunks. There was no point in me getting upset about not having everything. It wasn't going to change things and at least I got a fridge, my bed, kitchen crockery and saucepans.
On Wednesday night, lying on my mattress because the neighbour lady and I hadn't assembled my bed yet, I was worrying/praying about the fact that I haven't received my teacher registration. I said to God that I knew He had everything under control and I knew that things were falling into place but it would be nice to have that settled so I could start applying to schools for some relief work. The very next day, my friend Sharyn came over and handed me my mail which, you guessed it, included my teacher registration! How exciting! It just goes to show, once again, that God does have everything worked out for us.
This morning at church, they sang one of my favourite songs, "Never Once" and as they began to sing it, I prayed that I wouldn't become a blubbering mess. I managed to sing most of the words and only one tear escaped. This song means so much to me:
Standing on this mountaintop
Looking just how far we’ve come
Knowing that for every step
You were with us
Kneeling on this battle ground
Seeing just how much You’ve done
Knowing every victory
Was Your power in us
Scars and struggles on the way
But with joy our hearts can say
Yes, our hearts can say
Never once did we ever walk alone
Never once did You leave us on our own
You are faithful, God, You are faithful
Later, I stopped to get some milk and other essentials and was about to drive out of the carpark when a man tapped on my window. He stood back while I opened the door and he told me that my back, left tyre was flat. I got out and looked at it and he pointed at the 7-Eleven across the road and said I could pump it up there. I thanked him and drove to 7-Eleven and noticed that there was a tyre place right next to it. I drove there and the sign on the door said "Closed on Sundays" but I noticed the workshop was open and seeing a man come out and look, I went over to him and explained about my flat tyre. Turns out he was the business owner and had come in to service his car while it was closed because he doesn't get time during the week. He changed my tyre for me, found the nail or metal bit in the flat one and told me he would get it repaired and I can pick it up Monday morning. Now, that to me, is a God thing. Every single bit of that story shows that God was looking after me. A man happened to park his car next to mine as I was leaving, the tyre place was closed but the owner was there and it got changed. If I had have come straight home without any of those interventions, the tyre would have been a mess. God is good - all the time.
Life is so much better when we trust God and let Him be God in our lives, knowing that He loves us and He is faithful. His way is best.
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