See, I am doing a new thing!

Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.

– Isaiah 43:19

Something new. Stuff that sprung up and forced us to perceive.  Making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.

It’s all been done in the past two weeks.

And as I grip the wall and inhale a deep breath in relief that I’ve survived, I marvel at the intensity of this past year and wonder if I have the strength to take just even ONE MORE THING.

Pruning is never easy but if we ever desire to be more like Him and less like us, there is no other route.  Darn.

So it’s not just our first grader who is doing a new thing – I’m doing a new thing and changing the way I perceive it.

I nervously open the door to a new classroom and find that I too am in the first grade in so many areas.  There are new people to get to know and lessons yet to learn. Things to let go of and people to forgive.  Friendships to hold on to tightly and some to release.  A husband to love and honor and children who need a focused mama.

Because now I know, in fact it couldn’t be clearer, that to get through the deserts and find the streams in the wasteland, those branches that don’t bear fruit must be cut.

But eventually, those “new things” become routine – until we hit a new bump and start the pruning cycle all over again.  It’s the cycle of learning and if we are lucky, we’re open to it until the day we go home.

And while it’s hard at times and I think that surely this last bout with the shears will do me in,  I’m also so thankful that He loves us so much just as we are right at this moment but loves us too much to allow us to stay there.

So here’s to doing new things.  To changing our perception.  To making ways in the desert and streams in the wasteland.

Here’s to surrendering to the shears and just letting the gardener do His work in you.

“…he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 1:6

On this Multitude Monday, I thank you, God, for:

551.  New things that force us to grow

552.  A teacher who is made to teach first grade and alleviates the worries of a little girl who has never been away from her mother for an entire day

553.  The school of life that never closes for the summer, or weekends, or evenings.

554.  Your obvious hand in where our children should go to school

555.  Two people who have been married for seven years and are willing to grow and get better

556.  Time to focus on nothing but what matters the very most.

557.  Clear heads

558.  The hearts of mothers who drop their children off with tears in their eyes

559.  Your oldest child exclaiming “I like it, Mommy!” after her first day at a new school.

560.  The realization that while I was in continual prayer for her on and off throughout the day, she probably didn’t think much about her mama – as it should be.  A prayer warrior for her I will always be.

This week may you try something new.  May you look at something with new eyes and change the way you perceive.  May you make your way through a desert and forge streams in the wasteland.

May you start the first grade in an area that you feel called to face.

Joining with Ann for “Multitude Mondays” and Jen for “Soli Deo Gloria Sisterhood”…