Trusting in a God Who Renews

The other day I was driving to meet up with an old friend and I found myself reflecting on the spirit of the new year. We’re barely over a week into 2013. I mean, it’s still like more of an idea than a reality at this point, but I have high hopes for it. 2012 was a good run, with ups and downs, and highs and lows, a good dose of life – but I’m excited for something new.   
I was thinking about all of this, as I took in the countryside passing by through my windows. I’m not sure if I’d ever stopped to think about the fact that the new year begins in the dead of winter. Even Advent, the season that begins the new Church year, starts in late November or early December. I was looking out at all the dead grass, the bare, gnarled trees and the bleak gray sky, and thinking that it all looked very tired and used up, sort of like the end of 2012, or at least me personally at the end of 2012.
And at that realization, I found myself smiling and shaking my head. “Well played God.” He’s always trying to teach us through the world around us, and at that moment He was certainly teaching me. Because as I was driving, I got to delight in the fact that the worn down landscape would have matched my spirits a few days ago, but it sure didn’t match them anymore. I’ve made a new start, turned over a new page on the calendar, and have new hopes and dreams for this fresh start in January.
That’s how God works in us sometimes. Even in the dead of winter, when things appear worn down and lifeless, He can make things new. He can bring a fresh start, no matter how hopeless things seem. God is always taking brokenness and tiredness and lifelessness and despair, and making them new. Nothing is ever too far gone for Him. If He can make the earth, take nothing and make it beautiful, and if He can defeat death itself through His own death on a cross, all for love of us, than He can certainly bring a ray of hope into whatever our current hardships might be.
God is constantly reaching out to us in our moments of suffering, weakness and heartbreak. He uses whatever means He can to show us love and remind us that He is near: our families, our friends, the Church, priests, nature, Scripture, prayer. You name it- He’s there somewhere.  Whatever our concerns are, God’s concern for us is greater. He wants to bring us light and hope, to walk through life with us, giving us a new and fresh perspective, to bring the loving gentle support of a Father, of a doting Daddy.
Now, tell me that doesn’t sound wonderful! But, if I’m being honest, I have to admit that I struggle to truly believe that sometimes. I pray constantly for the grace to trust that God is not only bigger than my problems, but that He cares about me enough to want to get right in the middle of the hurt and ache and mess I always seem to be caught in. Sometimes it’s really hard to just let go, and let that be true, to be still and know that God really is that good.
I think it’s safe to guess that this trust is something we all struggle with from time to time. I mean, that’s what got Adam and Eve in trouble in the first place, right? They stopped trusting God. And here we are, thousands of years later, still struggling. But just because it’s hard at times, to trust and believe that God is as wonderful and loving as He says He is, does not make it any less true. Yes, sometimes it is difficult to trust that God will come through. Maybe we think He’s forgotten about us or doubt He really cares. But just a quick look around us -to the loving people in our community, to the care of those close to us, to the infinite number of ways God moves in Scripture, to the way He came as Jesus and the Spirit, and gave us the gift of His mother, Mary, and the gift of all the saints- these things can and should silence any lie we may have bought into about God’s lack of care for us, His beloved sons and daughters.  
It’s worth the struggle to let go and trust God. He wants to bring about hope and new beginnings. We desperately need that in our lives, and it’s something we can’t do on our own.  And let’s be real, anything good we could try and bring about on our own would pale in comparison to the great story of rescue and redemption that God wants to write upon our lives.
Mike Donehey is the lead singer of the band, Tenth Avenue North, and one of my favorite musicians. On the band's latest album, they have a song called "Worn", that deals with God bringing redemption when we feel hopeless. When talking about this song and God's renewing strength, Mike said this: “Look at the cross. And stare at it.  And be convinced. Let the cross be the evidence that your heart and mind are longing for, that our God is a God who brings beauty out of pain. Our God is a God who brings art out of chaos. He brings life out of death, even His own Son. And so if He can bring redemption out of the most horrific act that has ever happened, then maybe, just maybe, redemption is waiting in the wings for you and me.”
So wherever you’re at, whether you’re one week into 2013 and loving it, or already feeling worn out and facing a new despair- I challenge you take a moment to put things into perspective. Bring the truth of God and His love to center stage of your new year, and take it with you as a constant companion in the months to come. Dare to believe that God is who He says He is, that His love is powerful and transforming and that He keeps His promises. Dare to dream for good things in the coming days. And whatever those dreams may be, give them to God. Let Him have His way with them. Dare to hope in Him and walk forward with Him. He is the One who always holds you within His heart and always wills goodness for your life. Look for Him anew in this new year of 2013.
(PS: If you'd like to give it a listen, which I highly recommend, here's a link to Tenth Avenue North's song, Worn: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUEy8nZvpdM)
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