A New Thing

Hi all!

Get your coffee and get cozy, maybe even a pastry too.

I can't believe it's already mid-September, what a whirlwind. I can't help but love the Fall. I love the change in season and how you can not only feel temperatures dropping but see the beauty of the change. Leaves changing and falling. You notice them on walks, drives, in the yard, because they stop you in your tracks, at least they do for me. A specific dedicated season for change, pruning, and a renewed mind, but more so on display, is the beauty of that change.

Who likes change? A question to ponder and reflect on. If we're being honest, I think most of us could say we like change when it is good or we can anticipate the change being a good one, but when change is bad, it can be burdensome, propelling us to grow weary. Change is an experience that produces something in us. It is a chapter closed, and a new one starting. It is one door closing and the other one opening. It is a calling from something and a calling to something. Change is putting forth a new thing, casting off the old. Change is renewal.

Verses that have proved to be evident in my life lately is Isaiah 43:18-19, "Do not remember the past events, pay no attention to things of old. Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it?"

This is an invitation to see what new thing He is doing in your life today. Not to forget or abolish past events in your life, but an encouragement to not dwell or live in the past, because God is doing something new each day in your life and He wants to draw your attention to what He has for you in the now.

The Fall season ushers in change and by it's very nature is a new thing God is doing. It is a new opportunity for your life to be renewed by Him, to reflect on where you heart has been and where you are wanting it to be, a chance to fix our eyes on something new, perhaps even free of distraction, a time to try something new, the thing you've been putting off or the thing you have been scared to move forward in.

In making room for a new thing, God directs our hearts to not remember past events, paying no attention to things of old. God can't do a new thing when you're clinging tightly to the old. It's no coincidence that the leaves on the trees change color in the Fall season. It's no coincidence that leaves begin to fall, pruning away at the old, creating the space for new leaves to one day grow in it's place. Casting away the former and making margin for new growth. This process of pruning, falling, and new growth in nature takes time, just as it takes time for us.

And in this process we are not alone. The God who created you, wants and delights to do a new thing in you. He is there in the wrestling of our attention on former things, He is the one preparing our hearts and creating the space for the very thing He is calling you to, and He sees us to what He has called us to in that very new thing. All He wants is your yes, your heart. This is your invitation as we embark into the cozy season of Fall, an anticipated change, to let go of the old and walk in the new thing He has prepared you for. In each day, in each conversation, and in every encounter.

As you go forth into the changes that might be presenting themselves in the day to day, consider in the quiet asking "What new thing is God doing in me?" or "What new thing is He calling me to?"

I hope you have a wonderful weekend, and feel encouraged. Excited to journey into a new season with you, I'm biased, but my favorite season, hehe.

Until next time,

Em