Ideas For A Fresh Start In Life
At the end of every year, I take time to evaluate the previous year and pray for the year approaching.
Because of this personal tradition, I decided to write about some new beginnings ideas for all of you.
The last year has been a good year for me spiritually and in terms of ministry but also was a very tough year on me emotionally.
Some of those tough issues were due to my own fault, and some were due to the fault people giving in to their human nature and not rising up beyond that.
However casting blame, figuring out the reason others were motivated in certain ways, and only go so far as to figure out the reasons for something that happens to you is only part of the process of growth.
I hope this article will give you some insight on how you can have a fresh start in life.
New beginnings Ideas For a Fresh Start
In order to have a fresh start you must actually desire to have a fresh start.
I know a lady that always ends her emails with a quote about new beginnings. It goes something along the lines of
“Today is the first day of your new beginnings”.
What I find sad about this is that for the last 10 years I have watched this lady go around in circles and not getting past a tragic incident in her past.
She steps out, gets scared, and runs back to the safety of familiarity.
Sometimes we get comfortable in our past. We get used to having strife, or sorrow, or even abuse in our lives, and those things become what feels normal to us.
I remember a couple who continually lived in strife. When they did not have strife going on, they would insanely create strife in their life.
They also either were hard of hearing or never learned how to take a breath and listen. I would watch them interrupt each other and every time they did, the volume level of the conversation would increase. They would be shouting at one another and not even realize it.
It is the same way when we desire to have a fresh start.
We have to come to the point that we no longer will accept the comfort and familiarity of what we have grown accustomed to and will break the cycle of doing what we have done in the past. Recognition of where we are and where we really want to go and have happen.
You have to desire the change from the inside out, not just follow a pretty quote or a good idea.
To have a real new beginning, then you will have to have an inner change, an epiphany (revelation) so to say.
Just this week, as I was dealing with the tough emotions of the past year, this is what happened to me.
No, I did not have a vision or hear audible voices, but it was that still small voice and the sense of peace when I realized that I had gone the extra mile, given my shirt off my back, to bring reconciliation and it was no longer up to me and that I was free to have a fresh start.
Fresh starts begin with good endings.
It may sound illogical but the way to start discovering your own new beginnings ideas is to start with tying up loose ends and resolving the things that are tying you to the past.
That doesn’t mean that you have to make everything better, but instead, it means that you have done your part to make things better. There is a difference.
You cannot control what others do, or what has happened in your past.
We cannot go back in time to fix things.
But you can do your part to bring reconciliation.
If people have hurt you, then write them a letter or make a phone call, letting them know they hurt you but that you forgive them and do not hold a grudge.
You cannot move forward if you are emotionally looking back.
If you failed at a job, or a project, then evaluate your part in the failure and give it to God.
If you have lost somebody dear to you, then take the steps to go through the grief process rather than be stuck at one stage. Get involved with a Grief Share group in your community.
If you have gone through the tragedy of divorce then take the steps to work through all the issues.
There is a great organization that will help you with this called DivorceCare. I personally went through the program and it helped tremendously!
Before you can get a good and healthy fresh start, you have to have good and healthy endings.
Take the time to do this step.
I have personally learned by the school of hard knocks that if you don’t then you will end up going in circles.
Fresh starts need to have balance!
When we finally get to the point we desire to have a new beginning, we leap out in a new direction without ensuring we are doing it in a balanced manner.
When we decide we are ready for a new relationship we go out and become focused on that very thing and forget the other parts of our life.
Healthy lives have a balance of 3 key elements. The spiritual, the emotional, and the physical.
Make sure you are heading out on your new beginning keeping these things in balance. Make sure that you have placed God and your relationship with Jesus in the primary position.
Wholeness flows from the spiritual, healing the emotional, and affecting the physical.
If you have never started or had a personal and intimate relationship with Jesus, I would encourage you to go to the Peace With God website.
Let me give you an example.
If you have decided that your fresh start is going to be a new career, then you should first make sure you are not running from an uncomfortable situation that you are supposed to grow in.
Reconcile the issues with your current situation.
Make sure you know in your heart that you are finished and have done all you can to be the best person in this situation and that you have taken the high road.
If you have made mistakes, own up to them and ask forgiveness where it is necessary or appropriate.
Take the new path that you are desiring to follow to the Lord. Ask Him to show you what is your purpose and destiny in life.
Make sure that your new venture is honoring to Him and that your passion for it flows from your relationship with Him.
Look at things like how this new direction will affect you spiritually, emotionally, and physically.
God desires the best for you and knows that all these things are important, so make sure that you are not sacrificing one of these areas just to have something different. God cares that your life is balanced.
You Need To Be Committed To Your Fresh Start
We have all heard of the story of the tortoise and the hare. If you are truly to have a new beginning, you are going to have to be as committed as the tortoise.
Life’s road is strewn with hares who have started out full force only to fall to the side of the road when things got tough. God honors the faithful.
If you start out in this new direction, be faithful to see it through to the end. When you are faithful in the little things, God will make you ruler over many things. (Luke 19:17)
One of the most painful things I had to deal with this last year was somebody who started out with great guns but was not faithful to see it to the end.
If you are faithful in your new direction, you will see the rewards of your efforts.
It may not come as quickly as you would like, but I have found that God does indeed reward faithfulness.
Take it from a guy who waited 8 years for the new direction to become pastor of the church I am pastoring today.
I hope all of you find the new beginning you have been looking for this year and that this article will help you with your new beginnings ideas.
Blessings
Pastor Duke