New

For the month of January at our home pre-school, we focused on the theme of  "new".  New Year. New home. New friends. New Jersey. Lots of newness! Our bible verse was 2 Corinthians 5:17 which Baileigh can tell you says, "Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person, the old life is gone and the new life has begun." With this theme of new and this matching verse, I was able to share my testimony with my daughter for the first time. It was in the simplest form possible, but it still took a lot for me to share with her. I just said, "You know, Jesus made Mommy a new person. Daddy too. We didn't know Jesus when we were growing up. But now that we do, He has completely changed us. We're so glad our old life is gone." The only thing she didn't understand was how I could have not known about Jesus, I guess because her day-to-day is pretty filled with Him. But that just made me feel like I must be doing something right! She and I learned some of the sign language to go along with the verse like we usually do, but this time, it really connected with me. The sign used for "gone" looks like you're pulling something out of your brain, like literally removing it from your mind. I loved that. It wasn't like you were pushing it behind you or sweeping it under the rug. Instead it's removed. Extracted. Erased. Gone. For good.

Marriage Retreat 2013

I know it. But even still, there's times when I'll hear a whisper telling me it's not true. "You're still who you were, you'll never really change, that's just what you've always been." The lies like to creep in my head when I'm not paying attention, and lately they've been pretty loud. But good thing I memorized that Truth last month with my 4-year-old and the Truth overrides it all. I belong to Christ. He has made me new. My old life is gone. My new life is here. And He is continuing to make me new in all aspects of my life. The obvious ones are the things I can see: how I spend my time, what I choose to do and say. But even deep in my heart and mind, He has and still is making all of it new. The Bible says to not act like everyone else or like you used to, but instead to let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. (Romans 12:2) Another translation of that same verse says to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Let God renew your mind. He can make not only you and your life new on the outside, but every thought new. Completely new. Not how you once thought, not how you've thought for as long as you can remember. Not giving in to the lie that it's how I've always been and how I'll always be. But instead LETTING God transform you, starting with the way you think. Don't settle for how it was. Don't be content with how it's always been. Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The old life, all of it, is gone. Get rid of it. Pull it out of your brain, like the sign illustrates so powerfully, and don't let it back in. Then hand your mind over to God and He will make it new. Fill it with Truth and don't leave room for the lies. If they sneak in, pull em out again and replace them with more Truth. I recently confessed to my husband that I've really been doubting myself and my abilities, and Doug said so simply, "Then you need more Jesus." Touche babe. Only He is able to make beautiful things where junk once stood, but you have to let Him, and be willing to let your old ways of thinking go, and replace it with new, new, new. When you do this (Romans 12:2 continues) then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.  

"Letting go of my past

And glad I have another chance

And my heart will dance

'Cause I don't have to read that page again

Gone, gone, it's gone, all gone"

-Kirk Franklin, "Imagine Me"

(I came across this song in college. 

It gave me my first glimpse of what "new" could look like; 

the end still gets me every time)