It's like automatic J O Y and H O P E.
Nothing screams "new beginnings" like the number one.
It's never too late to start over and honestly, it doesn't have to be the 1st of any month to do that.
But it's a beautiful reminder to me that it's possible, and that none of us are ever too "used up" or "screwed up" to be brand new. To be healed and redeemed.
God loves to put those reminders everywhere.
Not just in 12 "firsts" of each month, but in 365 sunrises of each year, in the way that nature withers away but regrows again bright and beautiful, with each new season of weather, and especially with His relentless grace that chases me down every minute of every day.
All of creation echoes His praise, but all of His glory echoes our names.
His design was intentional to show us His heart.
But also, to prove His heart for us.
Examine any aspect of time, nature, or this universe, and you will find a parallel to God's plan to redeem us... to bring life to decay... to bring hope to the darkest places... to create beauty from ashes.
To make whole what was shattered.
He specializes in h e a l i n g.
Do you have those places that the second you drive past them, step foot onto them, or even just think of them, your heart floods with intense pain? Of the memories made there-- good or bad. The people who hurt you there. The past that seems to haunt you every time you are near it. Well if you know what I'm talking about, maybe you're like me, and you completely avoid those places at every cost.
But God is teaching me to do something quite the opposite of avoiding them. In order for any wound to heal, it has to come in direct contact with the Healer.
If you cut your knee open, you have to wash it out with soapy water, and that hurts worse than the initial cut. Putting pressure on your bleeding knee is more painful than what made it start bleeding.
But our wounds hurt the deepest when they're closest to the Healer. That's because He is cleaning, He is renewing, He is transforming, He is redeeming, and He is restoring.
For me, home is where the majority of those wounds are. And rather than me running from them, I've decided to go to them with the Healer, and let Him make NEW what has been shattered.
Rest assured, the finished product will always be more beautiful than before the wound. It will be different, but it will be stronger. Let your scars be your story.
Let the healing process bring you even closer to the Healer.
It's a process, and it's painful.
But it's freeing.
And it's healing.
And if today you don't get it right, there are literally infinite chances for a new beginning tomorrow.
Actually, there's one right now.
Hosea 6:2-3
"In just a short time He will restore us, so that we may live in His presence. Oh, that we might know the Lord. Let us press on to know Him, He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn, of the coming of rains in early Spring."
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