Let's Re-Write our Stories

A Call to a New Year of living moment by moment with joy and with gratitude. 

There are three special places where my soul is well nourished. 

My God space is the little study/den where I spend most of my time in. There I worship, pray, dream, plan, write, connect online with family and friends and enjoy times of solitude. 

My Happy Place is where I wander in, as I drink in the loveliness of a little lush paradise near our home. My spirit is refreshed and my body energised whenever I spend time there.

My Secret Place is where I start my blog today ... in a picturesque space that brings me closer to God's heart. This year, when springtime's kiss awoke our world after winter's slumbers, I found in our backyard, the ideal place to begin my day.

It's in my Secret Place that I sit with God each morning, sipping my first cup of tea, listening with my heart, so I won't miss His soft whispers. It's there that I open the Word and discover life-giving food and drink that grows me and sustains me. It's there in my Secret Place where I enjoy heavenly banter as I marvel at the flowers God creates in my backyard, each one a work of infinite beauty.

'How do you do it Lord?" I ask Him.

I ask the question because invisible Hands craft and paint flowers as I sleep. How does He do it?

"I have my ways! I am God, you know!' 

I can't stop smiling. He got me!

On New Year's eve, I was basking in my Secret Place, when my beloved brought me that day's snail mail. It included a letter to the former owners of our home which I'd already forwarded to them! Then why was it returned? When I picked up the letter and looked at it afresh, it was easy to understand why. I usually scratch off our present address, and write 'Please Try:' next to their new address. This time, although I'd pasted a sticker with their current address, I'd forgotten to scratch off their old address ... ours! No wonder the letter came back to me!

But what a great reminder!  It was the perfect cue to cross out the negatives of 2020 and re-write a new story in 2021. Many people are eager to put the old year behind them and I can understand why. It's been an interesting year, has it not? It's been a good year for me! Good, because the challenges have catapulted me forward. I've been forced into character growth and a deeper intimacy with Jesus. So out of a difficult year has come much blessing.

However ... there is plenty to discard as I step into a brand New Year. I'd like to scratch out the failures of 2020, my sins and foibles, my unrealistic expectations. I'd like to remove old outdated ways of doing things. I'd like to strip away doubts and fears, my insecurities and my anxious moments. I'd like to eradicate any mistakes and wasted minutes, words spoken in haste and attitudes that needed change. 

I'd like to eliminate times when I've disappointed my Heavenly Father.

A New Year has dawned. Unlike the letter that was returned because the old address still remained, I will ensure that I re-write my story, so my Letter of HOPE will reach its destination in 2021! I'd like to learn how to love others better. I like to learn from the past so I walk through this New Year stronger and wiser and more joyful. I'd like to overwrite the mistakes of the year that's past with grace towards myself and others. I'd like to live well, growing deeper roots into Jesus to becoming a more Christ-centred version of myself.

Are you tired of all the unpleasant surprises the old year has brought you? Are you looking forward to a brighter 2021? I have good news for you. We have a God who redeems. He's the Restorer of the broken. He is a God who loves and a God who gives. 

His grace and mercy abounds. 

He promises to overwrite our stories with His beauty, truth and goodness, when we look to Him.

He is with you and He goes before you. Like changing a heavy dark winter's cape for light bright summer attire, let's discard the old and put on the new. Let's place our hope not just in an unknown future which may not always deliver, but in a faithful God who holds that future in His capable Heavenly Hands. Let's trust Him. 

Let's walk with courage and steadfast hope into a year that could well become our best year yet.

Come, join me!

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21

"Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain." 1 Cor 15:58