Coping with new beginnings!
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Coming out of lockdown feels like a new beginning.
Right now, we are all stepping out of lockdown. We are stepping out of one season and into another.
Many people have made big life choices during lockdown. Crossing out of lockdown and into normal life will be a big deal for many people. Maybe you are stepping into a new job, new opportunity, new ministry or into a new relationship?
Maybe for you, everything is going back to how it was? Same church. Same job. Same friends. Though everything might be the same, the truth is that it will all feel new. It will feel like a new beginning.
With each new beginning, there comes a point where we have to step IN to the new. Stepping out of one season and into another can feel scary. It can feel daunting. Crossing from the familiar and into the unknown can feel overwhelming.
Even stepping back into church life can feel like a big deal.
Do you remember the feeling of when you began at a new place of work or the first day of school? I remember how exhausted I would be on the first day of being IN a new place.
In the beginning, there is so much unknown. So much uncertainty. All this newness and change leaves us feeling tired and exhausted.
I want to talk about the first four words of the Bible. The first four words were penned by Moses. At the time that he wrote down these first words, it was a big deal. Moses was about to begin a new book that would shape the entire world for the rest of time. Moses was beginning a book and stepping into a process of writing down the very word of God.
Right now I am wandering if anyone will read this blog and I am aware that the relevance of this blog is limited to a certain group at a specific time in history? As Moses prepared himself to write down the very word of God, he was stepping into a new beginning.
What were the first four words that Moses used to describe the beginning of the most influential book of all time? What words did Moses join together to begin a sentence that would lead to very revealing of these words in the person of Jesus?
“In the beginning….God.”
The first four words of the Bible. Four words that bring together two ideas. Four words that define your new beginning as you come out of lockdown.
In these four words we see the idea of a beginning and we see the idea of God. God is introduced to us and the context in which God is placed is IN a place. A place called ‘beginning’. God is telling us that he loves to be IN beginnings.
These four words tell us WHO is in your beginning with you.
Moses understood of power of knowing God in new beginnings. Years before he wrote these words, God appeared too Moses and offered Moses a new beginning. At the burning bush, God was IN the beginning with Moses. In that encounter, Moses found the fire, passion, strength and hope that he needed to step into his new ministry and calling.
These four words offer a promise for your life. A promise that right now, God is with you. He is with you and he is on fire with love for you. In your new beginnings, God is with you and he offers hope, strength and peace as you enter into the new.
In the moments of uncertainty. In the moments of feeling overwhelmed. In the moments of anxiety. God is right there. IN your new beginnings. And he IN love with you.
God is not just with you and IN your new beginnings.
In Genesis 1 we see that God created. It’s amazing that the first thing God chose to reveal about himself in his word and in the beginning, is that he is creative! In the beginning, he created something beautiful and something good.
The best thing you can do is realise that God is with you. God loves you and he is IN your new beginnings? He is not just with you. He wants to create something beautiful with you and in you and around you.
A new beginning is not just about having a new job or new opportunity or new friendship. A new beginning is about a mindset. If you are going back into the same job or a new job. If you are going back into the same ministry or a new ministry. Choose to see each area of your life in a new way.
Whether you are going back into the old or into the new, the truth is that you can choose to see everything as a new beginning. A new place where God can create something new and fresh in and through your life.
