Falling Into The New

Happy Fall Friends! Fall is possibly my favorite season. I love the new smells of Fall, the baking, bringing back out the sweaters and boots, and watching the leaves change. A few weeks ago as Mike and I were driving home we were talking about the seasons, and what our favorite seasons were. Mike said that he liked the Fall and the Spring the best because it represented how in the Fall old things die, and in the Spring new life forms and how that is a reflection of our walk with God.

I wanted to share with you my experience about approaching God me and making me new in a time that I was not walking with Him. It was about 8 years ago and I was living for myself and I could not care less about God. I was experiencing some health problems, and my parents asked me to go to some healing service at this Catholic Church in Bridgeport. Apparently, my mom’s good friend had a child who was healed by the pastor who was running the service, so my mom really wanted me to go. Secretly I was hoping the guy that I was interested in would at the last minute ask me to go out, but that didn’t happen. So to make my mom happy I went physically, emotionally, and spiritually reluctant. When we got there, there were some songs that I was familiar with playing, so that was cool, but then the pastor got up and shared what to expect of the night. He shared some of his experiences with healing and that sometimes as he blessed people they would fall over because of the presence of the Holy Spirit. I was like “What?!? Heck no am I falling over!” It didn’t make it any more comfortable that one of the guys who was going to “catch” people that fell was someone I used to manage at the store I worked at in college. Ah! So awkward. So I was scared, like really scared. I did not want to fall over! The pastor invited everyone who wanted to come up to the front of the church to be blessed, and still reluctant (even more so at this point) I got in line and as we waited we watched the pastor bless people. Some people fell over, a lot didn’t. My reluctance grew and grew as we waited and waited. When it was our turn we lined up at the front of the church. There was a line of about 8 of us. The pastor began his blessings, first going to the people we did not know, then he blessed my mom, and then started on my dad. In the middle of the pastor blessing my dad he turns to me and says “What are you so scared of?” Tears. Ugly tears. Lots of ugly tears. He stopped blessing my dad and started comforting me. He stared straight in my eyes and says God knows everything you have been through, He has been there the entire time. The tears continued as the pastor continued comforting me. They were not tears of fear, but tears of peace and joy and freedom. It felt like a huge weight that I had carried for too long had been lifted off of my shoulders. The tears didn’t stop that night. The tears of relief continued for a couple weeks after. I felt changed. I felt new.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
2 Corinthians 5:17

So now two questions that I am sure you are all wondering. Did the pastor finish blessing my dad? I honestly do not know or do not remember. And did I fall over? The answer is no, at least not that time (but that is another story). Truthfully although I was scared of falling over, there was a deeper fear of giving up the old, and living new life. God looked beyond the superficial fear, and spoke into the depths of my life to call me in to the new life He offers. He continues to do this every single day. Maybe you have been following God for a while now, maybe you are unsure of this God I speak of, or maybe your walk with God is new. Where ever you are, He continually wants us to be made new. His mercies are new every morning, and as we step into Fall, let’s all ask God what does He wants to make new in our life over the next few months? He is always making all things new. Take this time to evaluate your walk with Christ. Ask the hard questions (I have listed some below) to yourself and to God that will bring about the new life God offers.