gotta let go of the old to embrace the new
“New wine needs new wineskins.”
God’s whispered those words to my heart so many times throughout the past year. They hold the promise that He’s not done with me yet, the hope that He is making a way in my desert and streams in my wasteland.
Those words also hold a command. They are a challenging reminder of my responsibility.
Or maybe it’s my response-ability.
While it’s always God who brings the new, what I do with it is entirely my choice.
God is ever the gentleman. He will never force Himself on me.
So He holds out His hand, waiting for me to put mine in His, ready to lead me forward.
He longs to breathe His newness into my walk with Him, into my relationships with others, into my thought patterns. My faith-journey should be constantly evolving as I allow Him to continually change me from the inside out.
I want that so badly.
I want Him to mold me and shape me the way He sees fit.
I desire new. I long for change, for different.
Yet, at times, I still find myself unwilling to let go of the old so that I can embrace the new.
Sometimes I still prefer the familiar chains of Egypt over the unknowns of the Promised Land.
It just feels easier to stick with what I know.
Even when I hate it.
Because while I may be frustrated with where I’m at (physically, emotionally, spiritually), it’s still oddly comfortable and strangely comforting.
My chains double as a security blanket.
Which means I don’t trust Him enough.
(Story. Of. My. Life.)
I hear God’s voice calling me to drop my chains and walk on. He whispers that my security should lie only in Him because He alone is trustworthy.
He reminds me that I can’t embrace what He has for me until I stop fighting it.
I can’t slip my hand into His while my fists are clenched tightly, clinging to what I know out of fear of what I don’t.
The greatest obstacle to what God wants to do, is my unwillingness to let go of what He’s already done.
“I am making all things new,” He promises.
He is already breathing newness into every corner of my life. Already recreating, restoring, redefining, and redeeming me.
All of me.
He is giving me new wine and new wineskins. And I want to fully embrace all that He has for me.
Even when it scares me.
Because I want to fear God more than I fear anything else.
So today as I’m craving His newness, I’m also mindful of my responsibility.
Of my ability to respond to Him.
And today…
Today, I’m choosing to trust.
Originally posted as a gust post
at Rainmakers and Stormchasers >
Where do you find the time to come up with a deep and moving guest blog? Your Superbloger! Love you Alece!
@gritandglory says:
i wrote this a few weeks ago! no way i could’ve done it while i’m the road!
Glad I didn’t read this last night. I needed it more this morning.
sigh.
@gritandglory says:
mmmm… why come?
Bad day, so it spoke more to my soul than it would have in the calmer waters of the night before. I am asking God to radicalize me as a mom. RADICALIZE. And it’s scary, and I need to “vocalize” it as a means of forcing myself to actually ask God to do that. I spew a lot of crud and I don’t want my children to be the recipients. As I prepare myself for a 5th child, and people look at (and judge) me as a mom of 4 and wonder how I’ll survive, I feel that it is God’s way of really honing me, as a person and as a mom. I can be a half-assed mom with 4 kids. I can’t with 5. My person needs to change in order for my mommyness to change. Anger to be rooted out and dealt with. Habits to change. Skills to improve. Giftings to emerge.
I, too, want him to mold me and change me, but I can’t even “let go” of old because I don’t even know where the old comes from. I know he’s calling, and I have just plain old not bothered to call him back. I’m not answering the phone. I’m too tired, or I forget. I am quite unintentional. And I need to be intentional. I need to trust him, deal with the places that I don’t, and sadly, it isn’t even among my first ten thoughts to turn to him, most of the time. Which I find strange, in a way. But that’s where the “respons-ability” comes in. That needs to change. I need to be intentional about my responses so that he can pour out the old wine, and fill new wineskins with new wine.
Ok.. so now that I’ve written my own blogpost here…
Wow–I needed to hear this! Something for me to ponder on today. Thank you!
And I love that– “response-ability”…So good!
@gritandglory says:
i keep thinking about my “response-ability” in regards to yesterday’s post about boundaries… i have a huge response-ability there, too…
sigh…
so far to go.
@knights_lady says:
Perhaps. But look how far you’ve come!
You rock.
@kamriereed says:
You are exactly right. So many times God sits here and waits for me but I always neglect to trust him. It’s like I am jumping out of a plane and trusting that he will give me a parachute even though I can’t really see it yet. I hate trusting cause I have been betrayed by others and as a result fell flat on my face. I have to constatntly remind myself how awesome God is and how he will never betray that trust.
@gritandglory says:
God is the only one who will never need to ask me to forgive Him.
yet i often treat Him as though He does…
I can’t slip my hand into His while my fists are clenched tightly, clinging to what I know out of fear of what I don’t.
This hit me really hard. At times I feel like I’ve slipped my hand into His but maybe my pinky finger is still holding on to what I know, the familiar, the comfortable. I’ve gotta completely let go. But I’m glad that at least 4 out of 5 fingers have let go and that’s more than I can say I’ve let go in a long time.
@gritandglory says:
it’s so true. i often let Him hold my hand as i slip my clenched fist into His… that’s so different than truly holding HIS hand, though.
@elainaavalos says:
I commented over there but just wanted to say thanks again. Reading that brought on the tears because I really needed the reminder that he is in the process of restoring and making streams in desert.
@gritandglory says:
it’s hard for me to see that He is already making things new in me and for me. i want to see Him in the small things more clearly and more often than i do.
Wow Alece. I was convicted reading your post. Especially the part about not being able to partake of His blessings for me because of my inabilty to let go and trust. Also about fearing God above all else. I completely let my fear of getting hurt again, my heart breaking again trump my fear of God Himself. And my hand, sadly, is tightly closed and I fear opening it to hold His, more than I fear Him. I started to say I don’t know how to not be scared, but in my heart I know. The place to start is simply telling Him I am scared.
@gritandglory says:
“the place to start is simply telling Him I am scared” — i need to do that, too. the “simple” things always seem so hard to me…
So beautiful, Alece!
@gritandglory says:
thanks, friend!
can’t wait to see you next week! i wanna touch base with you again — you up for a phone call soon?
love you girl… thank you SO much for doing this… it was such a blessing to see the interaction from your post. You were so designed to touch hearts… i love that about you :)
@gritandglory says:
what an honor to be a part of what God’s doing through you on your site — thank YOU!