God is Always Doing a New Thing

My friend and her husband built a beautiful new home on their farm last year, and their old farmhouse remained standing for a few months until it’s scheduled demolition. It was during that time that her son invited my boy for a sleepover.

When I dropped my son off, I learned that these two boys were planning to spend the night in the old farmhouse—the one the family had long since moved out of and critters had long since moved in. I shuddered at the thought and wondered why on earth they would want to spend a miserable night in the cold? But I resisted the urge to insist they change their plans because sometimes 15-year-old boys need an adventure. The next day when I picked him up, I eagerly asked him how his night went. He turned to me in the car and soberly announced, “I don’t need to do that again.” He proceeded to tell me about the inescapable cold and lying awake with no pillow on the old hard box spring mattress and the pigeon that flew around their room in the darkness. Yes, I can’t imagine he would ever want to do that again.

Some things need only to be experienced once. You probably have long, dark season in your life that you never want repeated. But as those seasons end and darkness gives way to light, new life begins to sprout everywhere. There is renewed hope and a spring in our steps, and we are reminded that God is in the business of making all things new. “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” (Isa. 43:18-19).

God’s activity in our lives is constant. His working in the world is unceasing. And since He is a God of boundless creativity, He is always doing a new thing. So, no matter where you’ve been or what you’ve done, today is a new day, brimming with fresh mercy. God wants to take you to new heights in Him, new depths in His love, new understanding of His character. He will make a way in your wilderness and turn your wasteland into life-giving streams.

The question is: Do you perceive it? Do you pause long enough to look around and notice what God is doing in your life? Take some time today to stop and notice the new things God is doing in and around you. And give Him praise.

I have created a Prayer Journal for you! Track the new things God is doing in your life in response to your prayers.