A night at youth group...

Beginning. How can one word implies so much? Its a word full of anticipation, full of suspense, full of excitement, full of mystery. The word beginning automatically pricks the ear…what is it a beginning to? A story, a song, a poem, a dream, a life, to a day, to a year, to a breath. Every second has the potential to be the beginning of something new as well as the end of something old. With the passing of each moment is the power of potential. So with the pronunciation of the year of new beginnings what is being unlocked and released in my story? What in my life still needs to begin? What chapter needs to start and which chapter needs to end? When I look back on my life where will my “Once upon a time” start? What do I want to be remembered? What is my story look like this year?

Once upon a time there was a girl who did not know the power of her dreams. She did not know why she was created or why she walked every day from one route to another route, knowing it was for a purpose just always wondering what that purpose might be. And that girl was me. I was like a coke bottle, shaken and shaken and shaken…waiting to be released, knowing I was meant for more than just to be in the bottle but fear of the unknown caged me inside this bottle. I did not know that I was created for more, I was created to affect lives, I was created to spread and touch everything around me. I did not know that I could change the atmosphere around me. I made a vow, made a commitment one day that nothing would hold me back anymore. Lids that I put on Myslef and lids that other people put on me would no longer be able to cage me in and hold me back. I was called to live outside the box…to live outside the bottle. I was called to burn the box and perhaps help other people burn their boxes as well. I was called to be released. And so in the year of new beginnings I am letting myself believe that it is possible. I am letting myself believe in the power of my dreams. I believe that out of intimacy with my daddy, and always beginning each moment knowing that it belongs to Him, I will be released into a greater freedom in my life. I believe that the dreams that He has given me are from Him and He desires to help me fulfill them. I believe I believe that I could paint a picture that could change the world. I believe that as I walk in obedience to His voice, each chapter in my life, each beginning, including this one will be better and more exciting than the one before it.

So what did the year of New Beginnings bring for that girl? Well, the lid of that coke bottle came off. And the fluid inside that was shaken was released and the whole world saw what becomes of someone who lets themselves be stirred up for the things of Christ and then also lets themselves be released! It is uncontrollable and the impact undeniable.