Becoming A Stream

“This is what the LORD says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, "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 desert and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:16, 18-19)

So I know this is supposed to be about Jesus (aren't all versus in the Bible? lol) but today I wanted to let this verse speak into my life by itself, without commentary, without researching the author's original intent or elaborating on the historical context.

Forget the former things. Do not dwell on the past.

Yowzers. I SO do not do this well. There are times I will lay awake at night reinventing a conversation I had with someone over 15 years ago - simply because I don't like the first take. Or when I will imagine how making a different choice than I did (like not leaving MHC, or dating that other guy instead, or treating a certain girl with more kindness) would have "improved" my life or at least made it different.

And why do I do this? Especially when the next sentence of this verse sends electric-excitement through my soul - "See, I am doing a new thing!" THAT is so much more appealing that these dumb mental re-writes of my past I waste time on. A NEW THING. I LOVE new things! Change is GREAT! Bring it on!

I think... Unless the new thing is yucky. Unless I won't like it. Unless it means changing the relationships I've grown comfortable in. Unless it means more stress. Unless it means freaking out my son and husband who DON'T like change very much at all...

Ah, to heck with it. Today, of all days, seems the perfect day to forget about the past and anticipate the new things God is making in my life. (You KNOW my brain just went to "maybe it will be a baby" - when will I EVER get past that one??!!) Maybe the new thing He is making isn't something extraneous. Maybe it isn't someTHING at all, but rather, someone... Ha! I just looked back at the verse and realized it doesn't say he is MAKING anything new, but DOING something new. Hmm... that really changes my line of thinking. The Lord doing something new in my life? What would that look like? Maybe, instead of being stuck in the same spiritual rut I find myself in over and over and over I will get to move on and get rolling - or at least hang out in a different rut! But God doesn't say He is making a new desert or different rut, He promises "streams in the wasteland." Boy, have I felt like a wasteland lately... it sure would be nice to be a stream instead. May that be the new thing God does in my life today, next week... this year... may He he take my dirt and replace it with his Living Water.