Do you ever look at life and think OK enough, I need something new?
Trust me, you don’t need the calendar to change to a new year to get started. You can start fresh mid-day if you really want to, it just requires you making a mental decision to start new.
When my husband was in a coma, I said “If he wakes up or not, my life has got to change.”
Now don’t get me wrong we lived a good life. Big house, luxury vehicles, vacationing every quarter, children on honor roll and pregnant with another child. However, our life was not full. We were just living in and for the moment. Legacy building was not even on our radar. Then September 27, 2011, my husband stopped breathing and went into a coma until June 21, 2013, when he passed.
Now first let me say this, don’t be like me and wait until the bottom falls from out of your life to realize you need to start new. Pay attention to all the signs. Look at your life as a whole and ask yourself, “If God called me home today, would my life make me proud?”
As I stared at my husband lying in that hospital bed with tubes everywhere, and I looked down at my six-month pregnant belly, I said those words but for both of us: “God if you decide that this is it for us, would our kids be proud, our parents, we ourselves?”
--NO!
I mean everyone would pretend they were because we weren’t living what the world views as a bad life. We weren’t hurting people or breaking the law. But we also weren’t doing anything to assist in making the world better.
After you ask yourself that question then what?
Well for me, I began to look at every aspect of my life (Family life, Friend life, Spiritual Life, Career Life, Self Care) and decided to take inventory on how I measured up in those areas. I sucked the most in spiritual and self care, so that is where I started.
Now because I don’t want you to reinvent the wheel, let me just tell you, consider starting here first as well.
God has a distinct plan for our lives and after months of suffering I realized that all I went through was for me to be drawn closer to Him so He could reveal my purpose in life.
It wasn’t about attending church every Sunday, it was about talking to and having a one on one personal relationship with God. Reading God's word and listening for Him to point out things in the word that apply to my life. I learned that God wants time, you know the thing we feel like we don’t have enough of. Yep, that is what God wants from us daily.
Once I began to spend personal time talking to God (through my journal) and reading His word (listening for Him to speak) everything began to change in my life.
Romans 12:2 NLT “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”
There are plenty of self-help books and websites out there and I am not here to knock any of it. In fact, I would love it if you would check out my website where we discuss how to maintain balance on this journey we call life. (shameless plug) However, before you do anything, I would suggest you spend some time with God asking him how you can be transformed into the new person, He made you to be.
I thought I would give you a starting point, or launching pad.
Read this!
Isaiah 43:19 NLT “For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.”
Do you see it?
Do you have a dream that needs watering?
Is there a stirring inside of you that is different from anything you have felt before? Will it benefit others? That is your something new, go with it. Lean into it and begin something new.
Know this, you don’t have to have all the answers; the plan may not be fully written out. But it is there, and God wants to help you see it through. ~Retha Nichole
Retha is a beloved sister and coach, I connected with via Instagram. She has since remarried, and lives with her three boys in Alabama.
Thank you! Retha. IG @RethaNichole
Do you know in your gut that in 2020 something has to change? January 13-17, join us for the final 5 Day Fasting & Prayer Challenge hosted by Coach Tiffany. Click here to RSVP.
[Originally Published on January 26, 2016. Edited, December 28, 2019]
Leave a comment