N-E-W

I. love. new.

There's been lots of talk about "new" as we start a "new year". i love new. i love new clothes, i love new books and their crisp pages (and the way the smell), i love new recipes, i love watching new movies or when a new episode of my t.v. show pops up on hulu plus, i love new adventures, i love new tennis shoes, i love meeting new people, i love new places, i love new camera equipment, i love trying new restaurants, i love new car smell...well you get the point. :)

New can be a fresh start, an adventure, fun, unexpected, unknown, different, exciting, hopeful. Unfortunately, the unknown and different part of new, can also be hard, unwanted, dreaded, disappointing, tiring, scary, unhappy. So as much as i really love the new, I also really love the old. The comfortable, the known, the expected, the easy, the same, the happy. The new is inevitable, because we can only comprehend what our bodies and minds have experienced and we haven't experienced everything that will be brought our way, in our lifetime. We don't know what is yet to come.

But, I find comfort in knowing that the Lord knows. Really there is nothing new under the sun (Ecc 1:9) nothing comes as a surprise to Him. Sometimes the only thing I can hold on to is no matter how new it may be to me, it's not to Him. He already knows and has created a plan to carry me through.

At risk of sounding like Debbie the Downer, sometimes the unexpected, unexplainable, unplanned things aren't so fun. But almost always, they are the things that shape us, remake us, build us, and change us. I think about the sweet couples that have lost a baby, the wife that has been cheated on, the husband that has lost his job, the house that burned down, the child support that didn't come in, the long sleeves that cover up the cuts, the words that sting us and we'll never forget, the little girl that doesn't think she's pretty, the little boy that didn't make the team, the families that had to attend their small children's funeral a few days before Christmas, the woman that desperately wants to hold their baby and can't get pregnant, the man that's never been told he's good enough, the spouse and children left behind while Daddy/Mommy deploys for months, the single person that desperately wants to get married, and the list goes on and on. It may not always be the circumstance of choice and the new is not always fun, or easy or what we would have picked, but there will always be new.

Some great news: there will also always be Hope (Heb 6:19), there will always be Comfort (Ps 10:17), there will always be Safety (Ps 91:2), there will always be Good (Rom 8:28) to come (ever if we can't see it now), and there will always be Someone that has gone before us, there will always be Him.

"You don't go alone. When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty,you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you." Is 43:2

So whatever 2013 may bring us, and the chances are good it will be something (or a few things) new and unexpected and it may be gladly welcomed or it may be weirdly uncomfortable. If this year has it's trials and uncomfortable spots, I encourage us to remember that we don't travel alone. There will always be a new, new. The new will pass and become a little older soon. May you find comfort in your unknown and unexpected, that Jesus knows your tiredness, He knows your hurt, your frustration, your fear, your excitement, happiness and He knows your joy. He knows and He's got your new in the palm of His hand.

"For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland." Is 43:19

If we never had new, no matter if it's easy or hard, we would never change. we would never trust. we would never grow. we would never be better. we would never truly live. the new makes me better. makes me more like Him. So, maybe I lied a little, I don't always love the new, but I'm thankful for it.