The Desert Will Be Renewed

For years I believed a lie that was told to me as a teenager; "You can always be replaced by someone else." I can pinpoint moments in my past where I believed this lie was true. I would emotionally invest in people who seemed to reciprocate my feelings, only to see them choose another person over me. It got to the point where I’d expect them to choose someone else over me, because if it’s happened before it will happen again, right?

In the last year, as I’ve watched these people marry the person they chose, that lie gained a stronger grip on my heart than ever before. I sincerely believed that whoever I’d emotionally invest in would always end up choosing someone else to be with, and it hurt.

Since 2022 has kicked off, I have begun to once again seek the Lord’s face every morning. The devotional I am currently going through focuses on Isaiah 43, as well as this question: were there past experiences holding me back from the new things that God has for me?

Are there past experiences holding you back from the new things God has for you?

When I started praying, God revealed that lie to me, and I started crying. All these years, and I never knew it was a lie! It brought me so much pain, yet I still had trouble letting go. The lie became my coping mechanism. “If you expect disappointment, then you can never really be disappointed.” Letting go of the lie meant that I had to let go of all the previous experiences I had, and the expectation of being disappointed in the future. That scared me, because that would mean getting hurt again.

After that revelation and the (continuous) act of letting my lie go, I’ve noticed the sprout of a “new thing” that God has already made in the last month. I can no longer compare my present to my past and tell myself that lie, because I know it isn’t true.

I now understand that if we hold on to things of the past, we cannot reach towards what God has in store for us in the future. Being made new is a continuous choice that we have to make. In this life we are constantly being exposed to sin and tempted by the enemy. To be made new is to ask the Holy Spirit to intercede and help us through our struggles, again and again.

Father, renew my eyes to see your goodness in the now. Help me to let go of the lies I've believed. Forgive me for believing the lies that .... I want to trust that You are doing something new in my life today. Make me ready to live out your will for me. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Throughout This Day: Ask God to show you if you are holding on to lies that are hindering your walk of faith, and renounce those lies by claiming his truth from Scripture.