The New Has Come...

In the last couple of months of 2017, God really kept placing this word on my heart- that the old has gone and the new has come. That he is exchanging the old for new.

As I'm sure many of you have experienced, it's so easy once you have gone through a similar situation to believe that this time will be the same. You will be disappointed or the timing will be wrong or you won't receive that blessing -just yet.

BUT God has been challenging that mindset over and over again this last little while, showing me 'literally' that I am in a new season, all the while asking 'Will I cling to the old or embrace the new?'.

Isaiah 43:19
“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?

It's crazy how when you're in the trial, when you're going through challenges, all you want is to get to the end and receive what God has promised you.

But so often when you make it through, you don’t know if you are worthy to receive all he has for you. 

Well I'm here to tell you that you are!! The NEW has come - do you not perceive it? It's time to grab hold of it!

Just as you danced in the rain and the storms, dance in the beautiful sun! Now is not the time to second guess what God has placed inside of you, do you not trust that God has well equipped you?

As someone who often struggles with the first step, especially in unfamiliar territory, it can be easy for me to get right on the forefront of the blessing and want to hold back from receiving it.

Can you imagine if an athlete trained so hard for their race, ate right and was in peak form, yet at the last moment let fear stop them from competing?

Not only would it be disappointing for the cloud of witnesses cheering them on, but it would not show faith in the coach that had trained them.

I think we all need to remind ourselves that despite the fear and doubt, who are we putting our confidence in?

If we trust that God has given us this opportunity, this new thing, then don’t we know that he has given us all we need to complete it?

Hebrews 12:1
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

Sometimes it can be easier to run the race, looking towards the goal or what God promised you, then to receive the promise.

God showed me a picture of me with my hands outstretched but with closed fists and he was yelling 'catch it, catch it!!'. But I couldn't because my hands were not ready and open to receive what was being thrown.

I don't know about you but I want to receive everything that God has for me this year -but that wont happen if we are still clinging onto the old!

So it's time to shift our perspective, throw off our fear of disappointment and EMBRACE THE NEW! God will not fail you, he will only surprise and amaze you!!!