We Cannot Go Back

Returning to normal.  We hear these words as we listen to the nightly news.  We hear them in conversation as we run errands or talk with neighbors, co-workers, and friends.  I, myself, couldn't wait for our two week quarantine to be over last year.  Days turned to weeks and months without an end in sight, of course.  You were there, too.  Over and over those words tailspin in my mind without a place to land. What is normal?  Returning to normal assumes a hope and expectation for what was.  The word actually means standard, typical or expected.  I could fall on the floor in a fit of laughter right now because never in my life has anything ever been typical and expected.  Either my sense of humor is coming back or my trauma is showing!  Hear me out though.

Might we ponder for a moment that we are not returning to normal but beginning again?

We cannot go back and I don't think I want to anymore.

I looked at the clothes in my closet that I hadn't worn in a year because of working from home.  I don't remember the girl that wore them.  She's changed...Me.  I've changed (also did your pants get smaller, too??)  I can't be mad at it anymore.  I was but I don't want to be stuck there.  I don't want to miss what God is calling me in and through.  There are some questions I think are important to ask ourselves as we do move forward to begin again:

What do we need to grieve?  
Is it people we lost, places we miss, or is it a major life change we didn't anticipate?  

What can we honor or celebrate?  
Did you learn to bake bread while sheltering at home or create silly Tik-Tok videos with your kids?  Did you connect with family in a way you hadn't before? Did you plant a garden?  Gratitude grows the best garden.

Another really important thing is prayer.  Acknowledge to God that you know he is working things out that you cannot see and ask him to help you hear his leading.  Even if you don't fully believe it yet, say it out loud.  We won't have all the answers and, rest assured, we don't have to!  He can handle your bad days and all your frustrations and everything in between.  Aren't you glad?!  Invite others into this space to speak life and hope into those tender spots.  You and I weren't meant to shoulder things alone.

Be reminded of God's promises.  When I read God's word, I pray it back to him.  If I'm not reading his word my heart becomes full of untruth.  When I fix my eyes back on Jesus, my longings and expectations (those ones that keep me looking behind me) are drawn back into being filled with His truth that always satisfies and never runs dry.

Here's some truth that I'm holding tightly to as we move forward into a new beginning, eyes forward, feet firmly planted but still a little shaky, nervous but doing it anyway.


My prayer for us: