New Beginnings

Every January feels like a new beginning. My house transforms from the season of Christmas lights and decorations into a less cluttered home. Each season has its place in my life. Ending the year with celebrations of the birth of Christ is joyous. I often feel a certain sadness when it is all over, and I begin putting everything back in its boxes.

This year, I was brought to tears reflecting on the memories each item represented and the person who had given it to me. Each ornament was a little treasure. I felt grateful for each person who had been part of my life and the period of life we had shared. Some of these friends are no longer with me, which made it all the more poignant.

About the time I was returning our home to its normal state, a dear friend called. We hadn’t spoken in over 25 years but had stayed in touch through annual Christmas cards. We spent an hour on the phone sharing some of the stories of our life. It was as if we had never been apart. We were kindred spirits as young women, and we were kindred spirits today.

The Intent of the Heart

After we hung up, I reflected on how different the circumstances of our lives had been. My friend raised six children and many foster children in the midwest. I raised two children in California. She was a homemaker. I had a business career. Her marriage had stayed intact. I had gone through a divorce. She is dealing with chronic medical issues, something I have not experienced.

It was interesting to me that we had landed spiritually in similar places. God had revealed to each of us that the intent of the heart is more important than outward performance. True worship and obedience to God flow from the inside out.

As young women, we thought we understood the Christian life. We were “good Christian girls,” and it seemed pretty simple: just follow the rules. As we aged, we had both come to realize God is much more concerned with the unseen attitude of our heart than outward adherence to the “do’s and don’ts” of the Christian life.

God’s goal was the same for each of us, to be conformed to the image of His son, Jesus. Purity of heart is much more challenging than outward behavior. It requires surrender of the hidden parts of our lives: un-forgiveness, quiet rebellions, resistance to change, and control.

God’s Refining Process

God had used unique challenges in our lives to produce the same result: softer hearts and stronger spirits. The process is ongoing and really won’t be complete until we enter our eternal destination. All the events of our lives, positive and negative, joyful and sorrowful, helped shape us. Through it all, we had the choice to let these events define us or refine us. God’s purpose is always the refining process.

Much like the goldsmith, God uses the fire of life to bring to the surface our hidden impurities. The goldsmith knows the gold is pure when he sees his face in it. We have been created in the image of God, but it takes a lifetime to refine us and to see God’s face in our lives. God’s reflection in my life is still fuzzy, but I am encouraged by the promise expressed in 1 John 3:2 “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him because we shall see Him as He is.” (ESV)

The daily challenge is to be grateful in and for the refiner’s fire without comparing how God refines me to how He refines those around me. My tendency is to compare my weakness with another’s strength or compare what God gives them to my perceived lack. He is the one who fashions me, not the other way around.

Every day is an opportunity for new growth, new journeys, and new beginnings. His mercies are new each morning.

Rejoice In this New Year! The Lord’s desire is to do a new thing in you and with you. The Lord will never leave you or forsake you. You are loved.

Blessings,

Personal Parables is the blog of Dyann Shepard. Get Dyann’s complementary study in Proverbs and prayer guide, What to Do When You Don’t Feel Good Enough. If you need encouragement to remember the truth about yourself in times of doubt and anxiety, this free 5-day study is for you. Follow Dyann and Personal Parables on Instagram and Facebook. Dyann is available for speaking, guest blogging, and article writing.

Scripture for Meditation

New starts abound! Scripture for meditation following my new post entitled New Beginnings.

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (NKJV)

2 Corinthians 3:18 “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

Philippians 2-13-14 “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”

Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Ephesians 4:11-13 “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors, and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

Romans 12:2 “ Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (NIV)

Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (NIV)

Zechariah 13:9
“ This third I will put into the fire;
I will refine them like silver
and test them like gold.
They will call on my name
and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people,’
and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.’”