New Beginnings

It's interesting to me where life takes us, and how it seems like it was just yesterday that I was a little girl playing outside with the greater worries of the world, seemly a world away. And then something happens and you're not that little anymore and the bigger concerns of life that were so unfamiliar have somehow moved in next door.

I say all this as I think about where I was just a few days ago, Wickenburg, AZ in the middle of my junior year in college, not for vacation, but to visit my 18 year old sister who has, for the last 4 weeks been in a intensive inpatient treatment facility for a serious eating disorder. It was a "secret" that has been hidden for the last 2 years, yet in that time our lives have been tremendously effected for the worst.

But as I sit back and think about all the events and circumstances that have led up to this point, I have been able, thankfully, to stop questioning , "Lord, why have you allowed this to happen to us?" but instead, accept and say, "Lord, I don't understand why this happened, why we had to experience this kind of pain, but I thank you for your faithfulness, and ask that you use this time to heal our wounds, and help us live in freedom."

Even as I write this now, I am overwhelmed by the graciousness and Sovereignty of
the Living God. Experiencing the last few days with my family and little sister in Arizona have shown me the dramatic power of forgiveness, the beauty of accepting God's unconditional love, and the freedom that naturally flows from that. It is quite difficult to put it all into words... but I saw its joy in the eyes of my sisters, my Mom, and my Dad, as we sat together and were so real for the first time, in a very long time. I hope to never forget that experience, for those of that heart depth may only occur several times in a lifetime.

Of the many things that I learned this past week, I relearned this: God is the God of New Beginnings. No matter where we have been, or how deep the pain, God has in His Grace and love provided the way in Christ, through the life He offers us.

I love the verses in Lamentations that describe how God's mercies and compassions are new every morning... Even though Arizona isn't necessarily praised for it's amazing cacti, it has some of the most incredible horizons i've ever seen. Each morning I walked outside to a new masterpiece in the sky, and I was overwhelmed, all I could do was just take it in. What if we did that each day with His mercies...how much different our lives would be.....

To new mercies, and new beginnings.......

"Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, 
       for his compassions never fail.
  They are new every morning; 
       great is your faithfulness."
Lamentations 3: 22-23