Claire L. Eva, Assistant Director
General Conference Stewardship Ministries
Summary: Do you long for a fresh beginning? A new mind? The author found just that! This stressful experience may very well be yours—but its grace-filled outcome can be yours as well!
The funny thing is that I don’t remember what my trouble was. But I do carry the memory my anguish. It was one of those experiences that remains with you—a familiar scar that you occasionally scan, reminding you that once there was pain and the struggle left its mark.
It was nearly three in the morning when I slipped from our darkened bedroom and crept downstairs. Falling to my knees, I plead with God for relief. Was it too late for me? Had God given up on me while I dallied with vain attempts to resolve my impasse alone?
I flicked on a light in the living room and instinctively gravitated to a place that meant comfort to me. I opened my Bible to the Pauline epistles and read with unquenchable hope:
You were taught ? to put off your old self ? to be made new in the attitude of your minds. (Ep 4:22-23) ? Set your minds on things above ? For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God ? For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord ? (Col 3:2; Ep 5:8).
Be made new in the attitude of your mind. Yes! That was what I needed. What I longed for was a new attitude, a fresh beginning! It struck me that this was more than possible. In the reality of my faith, I was hidden with Christ in God. I was no longer darkness, but light in the Lord!
We live in an unpredictable world and have access to a very long list of fears we could adopt. Do you, like me, forget who you are and what you are in Him? You are light in the Lord. You are the beloved!
Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under His power and that He had come from God and was returning to God (Jn 13: 3). His experience may be ours; His life is ours for the asking. Seeing life through His mind, our spiritual struggles, like the pangs of labor Jean-Daniel Zuber describes so well in his sermon, will only remind us of the new life they bring.
