WHO WOULDN’T LOVE A FRESH START OR A SECOND CHANCE?
"Give us gladness in proportion to our former misery! Replace the evil years with good" (Psalm 90:15, NLT).
This is about loss. It isn't about losing someone you love in death. There is hope and comfort for you when you experience that kind of loss. But this is about a different kind of loss. Have you lost your business? Your job? Your home? Your credit score? Your marriage? Your best friend? Your reputation?
Could your loss be a blessing? Could it be an opportunity to begin again? What could be better than having an opportunity to do some things over? God could be clearing the rubble in order to get down to the foundation. He may want to begin a new work.
Who wouldn’t love to be able to start over? Who wouldn’t want a second chance? Maybe what you have been interpreting as a disaster is God saying, “Hey, let’s start fresh. This time let Me take the lead.”
Can you remember when you had a dream? Maybe you felt God calling you to do something, but the day-to-day affairs of life so weighted you down that you never pursued it. What if God, in His wisdom and love, took away what kept you so busy?
You would have two options. You could go into a paralyzing depression, or you could use the newfound free time to devote your energy to your dream. It’s all in how you frame it.
Maybe, just maybe, instead of thinking God is harming you, maybe, just maybe, He is actually giving you an opportunity. Step outside of your comfort zone and do something outrageously different. Maybe He is giving you an opportunity that is even bigger than DOING something different. Maybe He is giving you an opportunity to BE somebody different.
Could it be that you haven't had the time to be someone extraordinary, because you were so busy being ordinary?
When you are stripped of everything, you have the time and energy to begin to be and do what really matters to you. You can start your own business. You can write a book. You can go back to school and finish your degree. You can find time to have a quiet time! You can disciple your grandchildren.
God is making space in your life! Thank God that He forced you to make a change when you didn't have enough courage to make one on your own. Rock bottom is a solid foundation on which to rebuild your life. If what you had been doing had continued, you wouldn't have been forced to find God's new and better thing He has for you.
I know that happened to me. I wouldn't have ever had what it took to walk away from the business I loved and had been in for over 30 years. It ended abruptly. I thought God did it to me. I now realize that God didn't do it TO me. He did it FOR me. I wouldn't be in the ministry I am in today without that loss. In the words of the old song, "I lost it all to gain everything."
