Sunday Inspiration - Find Hope In The New Normal

Are you ready for the 'new normal'?  My daughter and son in law are getting ready for their 'new normal'!  They just announced they are expecting in October!  You guys! I'm going to be a Grandma!

We have all experienced new normals throughout our lives.  Some more dramatic than others... The one we are experiencing right now is one of those more dramatic...

People keep saying, "I just want to get back to normal".  I don't think there is a 'back to normal'.  I know that after having children, there is no back to normal.  In fact, I never wanted to go 'back to normal'.

I listened to Steve Furdick from Elevation Church last week and he was talking about why we want to go back to something familiar.  Even if that something was killing us or we hated it.  It was familiar, it made us 'feel' normal.  Normal is a relative term... everyone's situation is different.

Think about the Israelites when they were leaving Egypt and they came to the Red Sea.  They cried out to The Lord and said to Moses, they wanted to go back to Egypt.  It was familiar....  They had freedom in their sites, but they were more afraid of the uncertainty of their future.  They'd rather go back to the familiar... 'the normal' of being a slave.

Exodus 14: 10-12  As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”

Do you hear the sarcasm in their complaining to Moses? Really? Moses was being obedient to God's command. Do you think he would have tried to help rescue the Israelites if he thought for one moment that God wasn't going to deliver them? The Israelites would rather be slaves than be free?  It was familiar...  They couldn't see hope in the new normal.  Maybe that's the key... HOPE!

Exodus 14: 13,14  Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

We need to find hope in change.  That doesn't mean it won't be difficult, it means it's going to be different!  Find joy and peace in the new normal.

I'm sure that somethings will seem like they are back to normal, at sometime... but are they?  Personally, I think it's going to be very different from here on out... But we have HOPE!

Isaiah 40:31 But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Instead of complaining, let's look for hope!  I have a new appreciate for family and friendship.  We take the things that are 'familiar' for granted, until we don't have them.  I want to give my family and friends big hugs.  I miss them dearly.

God keeps moving forward, he doesn't back up.  He's got our future all figured out.  Let's move forward with Him.  Let's find hope in the new normal! I know my daughter and son in law have hope in their new normal!! ❤️

Blessings!