A New Thing

I have a relationship in which we’ve both struggled. Lately, I’ve been reflective of the past and the hurts that brought us here. And I’ve prayed for guidance about whether understanding them, and maybe even finding a way to share them, would be helpful, healing, or at least necessary, in order to move forward.

I made a list. For myself. As a reminder that it wasn’t all in my imagination; or, if I’m being more honest, that it wasn’t all my fault.

And then a familiar verse came back to mind. More accurately, I opened my Advent devotional, going back to a day I had missed, and it smacked me right between the eyes. A beloved verse the Lord had used to carry me through a difficult season of marriage, the very verse I had recited when my husband and I renewed our vows to one another:

Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.

Isaiah 43: 18-19

The fact that this time the person I love is in a literal and figurative wilderness drove the message home as only a loving Father could. In these simple, powerful words, God reminded me, as Pastor Craig Groeschel likes to say, “If it ain’t good, God ain’t done.” I let my list fall to the ground and resolved to keep my eyes on God.

The mountains are high. The valleys are low and wide. But now I know for certain. Now I perceive it. These things are impossible for me, but everything is possible with God.

Who or what in your life is causing you to dwell on the past? What hurt of pain feels insurmountable, unfixable to you right now?

I am here to tell you that twice in my life God has revealed and fulfilled this promise in powerful and miraculous ways, and he was at work long before I perceived it.

This story isn’t over. But I can tell you that even this week I got a glimpse of the glory ahead, and I am awed and humbled by the provision of our good, good Father. Give all your worries and cares to him, for he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7)