FRESH START

Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he
is a new creature: old things are passed
away, behold, all things are
become new.
II Corinthians 5:17

My heart's desire is that I will never forget that wonderful Sunday in November of 1949 when God's Holy Spirit reached down into the heart of this blond headed junior department girl and drew her to himself. I can remember stepping out into that sun flooded aisle, already knowing something wonderful had happened in my heart in just an instant I must admit I didn't know everything about what had happened that day. There were some older ladies sitting in the pew behind we junior girls who were crying. I found that strange. When I got home and told my Mother about the morning, she was pleased. Even my Sunday school teacher sat softly crying as two other of my classmates also had made the same decision.

There is so much I wish I could have known instantly about my new walk of faith. The only way I would grow aside from what I learned at church was to read my Bible. However, I didn't have a Bible of my own so for a brief time, I read and reread what Sunday school literature I was given. It wasn't long until my Aunt sent me a new Bible. I couldn't wait to dig into the book of John as I was told it was a good place to begin my Bible reading.

Since those days, I've come to love God's Word and have taught it to children or ladies in some capacity for at least 50 years. It's been a joy, but I must admit to you that through difficult times, life's ups and downs and all that goes with living, sometimes that new-in-Christ little girl at this point in life can at times feel a little tarnished or well worn with the years. It's easy, even with our best efforts, to grow stale in our spiritual walk. We don't mean for it to happen, but it may happen anyway. Those stale feelings can be brought about through various issues of life...illness, job stresses, family circumstances, tragedies of sorts, yes, even weather, hot or cold. We also cannot ignore the face that personal sin can also drain us of our spiritual enthusiasm

Last Fall, soon after finishing our Fall ladies Bible study series, two friends approached me about starting a new ladies Sunday school class. At first, I must admit that in that moment, it sounded like an ingrown toenail would feel better, but I promised to pray about it. These ladies wanted a Fresh Start Sunday school class for ladies needing just that.

In my praying and pondering, I got on my computer and looked up those two words...”Fresh Start.” What I found was rather comical. I saw there were Fresh Start therapy groups, hospitals, exercise classes and rehab centers. We were talking about a Sunday school class. As I looked at the list, it dawned on me that a Sunday school class in theory meets similar needs as some of those organizations. Why not?...Fresh Start.

Those same ladies gave me a Bible verse that would be a kind of guide for the class:

                                                              For in Him we live
                                                                    and move
                                                             and have our being.
                                                                   Acts 17:28
Some of you have already caught on that I love “threes” in Scripture and this verse is no exception as I looked at what the ladies had in mind...a verse to steer the vision of this new class.

Already I took a look at FRESH (new, different, recent harvest) and START (cause to happen, begin from a certain point). That looked good so then I noticed three key words in that verse of choice and thought on them carefully:

                     LIVE (emotional, soul) have life, maintain oneself, dwell

                     MOVE (physical) go in a specific direction, change position                         

                     BEING (spiritual) essence of a person

That pretty much covers us and what we are in every area of life. I could see a class of ladies who in earnest wanted to live, move and have their being in Jesus Christ. When that happens, we can have a fresh start spiritually speaking in this new class setting.

We don't need to be a part of a class or group of any kind in order to have a fresh start with Jesus. He is the creator and center of our fresh starts and wants to do that in our lives. We all need a time of spiritual renewal and refreshment along the way. We first have to recognize the need for Jesus to give us an extra pick-me-up spiritually. He has walked this earth, lived in human flesh and Scripture tells us He knows how it feels to face the human things of life. He understands us better than we understand ourselves. When we recognize our need, we then need to reach out to Him for His help. No one else can do anything fantastic in our spiritual lives like He can.

We also might want to look at ourselves and try to see what brought about our days of spiritual staleness. At times, it's a help when we recognize some of those pitfalls ourselves so we can hopefully avoid them in the future. Some we just can't avoid but there are some we can. There will be no fresh starts for anyone without the Holy Spirit empowering it. We also need more time in prayer and in the Word. I'm afraid there are no shortcuts to being spiritual. Maintaining spiritual freshness must be an every day walking with our Lord.

And if we walk in the light, as He is
in the light, we have fellowship one
with another, and the blood of Jesus |
Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.
I John 1:7

Dear Father, thank You for loving me consistently and unconditionally. I want to walk in the freshness of Your spirit. Thank You for Your leadership in My life. I pray I will walk in obedience through the light of Your Word. In Jesus precious name....Amen