new

 

The song played as I laid in the dark and wept over the shame and fear swirling inside me, touching my soul in a way no song ever had before. The song played in the church at the concert that was standing room only, the room filled with eager, happy listeners. The song played every night for a year in a playlist full of its companions, as I fell asleep smiling about the beauty I had wanted for so long. The song played as I sat in my bed and wrote a paper at 4am and cried over what was lost.
 

The years, the seasons, they were all different – but the truth of the words never changed:
 

Rise up oh you sleeper awake

The light of the dawn is upon you

Rise up oh you sleeper awake

He makes all things new

He makes all things new
 

New.
 

It’s a beautiful word, isn’t it? New means change. New means not old. New means not what you had before. New means something has been born.
 

Maybe it was a dream fulfilled. Maybe it was love found. Maybe it was everything you longed for come true.

 

It can also be a scary word. New means change. New means not old. New means not what you had before. New means something had to die.

 

Maybe it was a dream unfulfilled. Maybe it was love lost. Maybe it was everything you wanted taken from you.

 

Or maybe - maybe it was some terrifying combination of the two.

 

Because isn’t that how God works? He strips you of everything you think you want, everything you think you need, and replaces it with something better. Maybe it's nothing like you would have ever imagined in your wildest dreams. Maybe it’s better. Maybe it doesn’t feel better at all. Maybe sometimes it feels like you’d like to go back to what you had before.
 

The world was good, the world is fallen, the world will be redeemed.
 

Wherever you are in the process of God’s work in your life, know this: He will not leave you in a broken place. This world is fallen, and we are here for a while – but not for forever. And even while we’re here, we are being redeemed. You are being redeemed. Your story, broken as it is – your heart, broken as it is – is being remade. New.
 

So hold on, dear one. The pain is deep and the suffering is long.  But it’s not the end.  It’s not the end.