It's Time To Make A Fresh Start!

I'm sure my New Years Post about 2006 probably scared a few of you. Most of us don't like to hear...Really hear...How someone is doing. What their thoughts really are. Heck, most of us don't like to admit those thoughts, let alone share them with the world. But as I sat down to write my last post of 2006, I just couldn't take us on a ride on the Good Ship Lollipop, when my year wasn't one. I had to publicly admit my emotional & spiritual state. I guess, to sorta be set free from it. Dig it up. Let it out. Stop holding on to it's tangled roots.
I got in the mail the other day, my monthly Joyce Meyer magazine (if you don't subscribe, you should. It's free!) I sat it on the table. And walked by it over & over again. I was totally avoiding reading the cover. You know when you feel a nudge from the Holy Spirit, but you just continue to act like a spoiled brat & ignore that voice? Yep, that's me ALOT lately. So, today I finally gave in with my head held down. The title was "It's time to make a fresh start!" I knew that it was gonna read my mail, for sure. It talks about seeing ourselves the way God sees us. We need to be willing to let go of what lies behind & take hold of what lies ahead, in order to make a fresh start. That we don't have to be perfect in order for God to love us & bless us, to come to our rescue. We tend to believe, that just because we've sinned, we deserve to eat the crumbs off the floor & we don't deserve the best that God has for us. I love this line, "God doesn't want us looking at everything that is wrong with us or the sins of our past: He wants us to look at everything that is right with HIM." Hebrews 12:2 says,
Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader & the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] & is also the Finisher [bringing it to maturity & perfection].The article said...."Once we begin to magnify His power & minimize our problems, we will discover a new realm of victory & get a fresh start of how we see ourselves."
God isn't looking for a perfect person, He just wants a willing heart of surrender.
One way the Lord ALWAYS speaks to me, is with my most favorite verse. Jeremiah 29:11, has been close to heart since the day I gave my life over to Jesus. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Whenever I seem to be struggling with doubt & my hope has seemed to all but vanish, this scripture ALWAYS appears. It's God's way of reassuring me, like He always does. And there ole Jeremiah sat in black & white print. I had to chuckle when I saw it.
This part of the article was so amazing. It was talking about when Abram & his family came out of Egypt. Both he & Lot had too many livestock to live off the land where they were. Abram told Lot to choose whatever land he wanted. Lot chose the best land with the water supply.
The Lord said to Abram after Lot left him, Lift up your eyes & look from the place where you are, northward & southward & eastward & westward; for all the land which you see I will give to you & to your posterity forever. Arise, walk through the land...For I give it to you (Genesis 13:14,15,17). Notice that God didn't tell Abram to look at where he was or what Lot had taken from him. He told Abram to look from the place where he was & that all he could see would be given to him & his generations to come. Then God said, "Arise." In other words, he told Abram, "Make a fresh start-get up & step-by-step, move forward."

How incredible is that? It's so easy for me, to stay right where I am & wallow in self pity. I get ashamed over the way I act before the Lord, so I don't act at all towards Him. I let myself become stagnate & bitter. It hurts not knowing why I'm not a Momma yet. It will always be a daily battle for me. I don't understand His ways at all. But I do understand His love is all consuming, even when I don't want to admit it. I can't just stand here anymore. I have to move forward step-by-step. The article also said this, "No matter how deep of a pit you are in, God's arm is not too short to pull you out."

So, my New Years resolution to is learn to see me as God sees me. To move forward. To not keep looking back. To not dwell on my problems, but to embrace ALL of His goodness, no matter how painful it may be at times. Because what is growth, without some pain?

P.S. Thanks to all that left comments on that previous post. Thanks for not being afraid to say what's on your heart, so many shy away from that. Someone being so blunt, pushes people away, because they don't want to have 'deal' with it. Your words got me to thinking & set me on the path, be to able to read this article & get out of it the fullness that God intended. You just never know, when you step out, what change you may create in a person. So, thank you for hearing the voice of the Lord & following His direction.