Where I live the sun is shining and it’s supposed to hit 66 degrees today. Tomorrow, the temperatures will plummet. It might be our final day of warmth until after the long winter.

With one warm day left, you might think I would take a long walk and enjoy what’s left of the sun’s smile. Instead, I’m doing laundry and watching the last leaves drift off the trees. The wind is carrying them just outside my window. Another season is coming to a close.

In the spring those trees will appear dressed in a new shade of brilliance. Brand new life will emerge on the same old branches. Something about that promise fills me with fresh hope.

Last Friday night, I had the opportunity to play in a worship band for a youth event. I sang the bridge to the song “Beautiful things.” The words are, “You make me new; You are making me new.” Oh how I long to be new.

Every day I wake up with the promise of new mercy, and with it I have the hope of a new me. I know I speak and write words such as, “You have worth because Christ is worthy” and “You are enough because Christ is more than enough.” However, all of that correlates with wanting to continually evolve from who we are into who He wants us to become. And that means dying to ourselves in order to grow spiritually.

We can’t settle. We must purpose to grow.

Because of my relationship with my savior, I’m a new creation in Christ. He makes all things new. His word says, “Behold, I will do a new thing.”

Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

-Isaiah 43:19

I’m longing to be molded and made into who He wants me to be, and that means I have work to do. It takes a certain discipline to live within the will of God. To have the desire to be like Christ means letting go of the old flesh and opening the heart to new things He has. Even when those “things” are much different from my plans. The fact that He promises to make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert means that like it or not, even though he has provided a way out, we all end up there (in the wilderness or desert) at some point or another. Even if it’s just for a little while.

Sometimes, a new season means transitioning from the cozy and comfortable into the painful unknown.

The work I have to do is to continue keeping my eyes on Christ. I must determine to follow Him at all costs through not only the life-giving colors of brilliance He births in my soul, but also through the cold and windy seasons. It takes perseverance, patience, and trust.

I want the new, even when it’s full of apprehension and uncertainty. Why? Because it leads me closer to where I’m going. It causes strength to rise up and allows His wholeness to fill in my empty spaces. The more I choose to lean on Him, the more I become like Him.

You see, I’m finding myself in a new place and though there is much beauty inside it, there is also sadness and pain mixed in deep. I’m slowly awakening to the perspective that the more I hold onto Christ the more He will continue making me new. And through that process, His glory will shine and I will hide safely inside of it.

I will find the road in the wilderness, and the river will flow again. The same is true for you!

As children of God we should be able to look at any perspective of new and find value in it. God is faithful, and His definition of new is always for our gain and works for our overall good.

Be blessed today, friends. He is doing a new thing!

Love,

Jennifer