A Look Back before Looking Ahead

In the past few weeks, I have spent a considerable amount of time praying about the New Year. I have been seeking God about what it looks like, in my writing, my hearing journey, in ministry, and in life.

He has been directing me to take a look back, before looking ahead fully.

Eight years ago, I began to have a desire to get back to writing. God started a stirring my heart and giving me a vision for where He wanted me to go. At that point, my oldest son was graduating from High School and a new season was beginning for me in many ways.

After lots of prayer and help from friends, A Renewed Creation was born.

Recently I was looking up the definition of renew. Webster’s dictionary defines renew as; 1. to make or become new, fresh, or strong again and 2. to restore to existence.

To take it a step further, I took out my thesaurus and looked up the synonyms for renew. My favorites were; restore, revitalize, refurbish, rehabilitate, and renovate.

After the last two years, renovate has a much deeper meaning for me.

A Renewed Creation. This is who I am. God has renewed me, given me new life, and is continuing to renovate my heart. Click To Tweet

A Renewed Creation is who He desires us all to be. This doesn’t come from performing all the right duties or following all the rules perfectly. It doesn’t happen because we checked off all our Christian duties for each day, or even because we go to church every week.

We become A Renewed Creation as we walk with Jesus every day. Click To Tweet

The scripture God gave me to go along with this name is just as important to ponder and look back upon.

“Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

I don’t think I have needed the encouragement of this scripture as I have in the last eight years.

God knew this life would be disappointing and discouraging at times. He knew we would grow weary here on earth. I know we can all relate to that. I see it all around me. There is a weariness and a heavy sense of hopelessness that hovers over his earth like a black cloud.

Here, He encourages us not to lose heart. We are getting older. I see it in the gray hairs popping out of my head that I continue to cover. I see it in the wrinkles, marks, and cellulite that appear out of nowhere. I feel it in my body as I struggle to have the energy to do what I need to do some days. From the moment we are born, our bodies are getting older and decaying.

But, as we walk with Jesus, in relationship with Him, our inner man is being renewed daily. I can feel this too. Some days my physical body feels so old, and yet my inside feels like a child. There is joy and excitement about things. I love learning and I am always seeking to learn new things and go deeper into God’s Word. As old wounds are healed and baggage falls off, I am lighter and freer.

Remembering the things we see are temporary. The things unseen are eternal. I get tripped up there sometimes. There are days I can be so focused on what I see, I forget God is working in the unseen. There are eternal things going on in the unseen places.

When I focus on Jesus and the truth that God is working in ways I can’t see right now, it helps me keep my eyes on Him and the eternal. I can let go of being weary from trying to figure everything out, and release him to do the work He needs to do in me, and in those around me.

As I move forward in writing the books and messages God has placed on my heart, I can see they align with what He gave me eight years ago. I just haven’t had the pieces I have now. I didn’t know where this writing journey was going to go, but as He puts His light on each step, I am blessed to see how He had a plan back then for this name and these scriptures.

His plan and purpose for me then are still His plan and purpose for me now. His message then is still His message now. Moving forward, the message and books coming will be His message too. Click To Tweet

I pray you will join me this New Year at A Renewed Creation as we walk with Jesus Together.