The End is the Beginning

Still Singing!

As a writer, I rarely find a time when words begin to fail me, but it seems like that has been the case for me lately, especially when I try to write on this blog. I am in a thoughtful mood again today, trying to find some way to put my feelings onto paper (well, a screen, anyway).

At the start of this year, I wrote about how I felt God telling me that 2013 was going to be a year of "ending things."  I've seen that coming true ever since then, sometimes in good ways and sometimes in bad ones. Moving forward is a good thing, but sometimes change comes through bittersweet endings, and I've seen a few this year.  The loss of my dog was one, and the tornado that tore through my hometown was another.  A friend of mine is moving away tomorrow, and with that, I see an era or a chapter closing, at least in what I consider my old familiar pattern of life.

It's not all bittersweet, though. Over just the past few weeks, I've been able to move forward on my writing career goals after what seems like years of delays. I've also gained some clarity through all of these changes that will help me organize the rest of my work and life. Besides that, God has been reconnecting me with old friends and adding new ones to my life.

Look on change from an eagle's point of view...

He is opening doors for me, and although I don't fully know what to expect out of the rest of this year, I still feel that God is going to be with me, and that He is behind these changes.

If you, like me, are going through some whirlwind changes right now and are perhaps feeling a little weary in the midst of them, be reminded that God is in control, and that you can trust Him. Throughout Scripture we read how the prophets under God's direction predicted the end of things, but never do we read of an end without talk of a new chapter to follow...and that is always a grand and beautiful thing!

When something is taken, God restores, and when the end comes, God has made Heaven to follow.

Here is a passage that has come up in conversation a number of times over the past few weeks. It has encouraged me, and I think it will encourage you.

Do you not know?  Have you not heard?  The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.  He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.  He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.  Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 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. (Isaiah 40: 28-31 NIV)