New Beginnings

Today is Easter, Resurrection Day, and we had a party celebrating that fact at church this morning. It was great! There were balloons filled with helium tied to the chairs and floating with the seasons. Everybody wore pastels and the women almost all had on hats. (An Easter tradition at Bethel Atlanta.) If=n fact someone said that we looked like a package of Skittles. But even though we were all having fun, no one was unaware of the real reason that we were celebrating. Jesus, our savior, had risen. Too many times we spend so much time focusing on the cross that we forget where the real focus should be, on the resurrection.

We didn’t forget that today. That’s why we party, He is risen and there is no hold on us by the enemy. The word used most for salvation in the New Testament really means so much more. That word is sozo and it means saved, healed and delivered. You see, Jesus’ resurrection was for much more than just our salvation. He came back to establish a bride (the church) that would go after establishing the Kingdom of God here on the earth. That means a lot more than just salvation. It includes healing and deliverance as well. So that is what we were going after today.

All weekend long I was meditating on what Easter really meant. I think I even said a little about it in my post on Friday night. I have been thinking and meditating on New Beginnings. That’s what really happens when we get saved isn’t it? He makes all things new. Our sins are wiped away and we get to start over. Yes, New Beginnings. The same thing happens when we are healed, we get to start over, new beginnings. Also when we are delivered. We get to start over and many times it is the best thing that can happen.

So in reality, everything that has to do with Easter lead us back to the old title, New Beginnings. Today we had some testimonies. They are things that God has done to change lives and circumstances. As I was thinking about the testimonies, they are just a reflection of New Beginnings. Each testimony is a tie to some change, something new in a person’s life that has the capability of changing everything. Testimonies are awesome.

So, on this day of New Beginnings, I declare that the Season of Transition in my life is over. I knew that this second year is school was a season of transition. But just as in life, transition is just that, transition. You can’t stay in transition all the time. That would be gross. No, transition needs to lead to another season. Just as a mother is in transition right before childbirth, I have been in transition for another season in my life. That transition is over.

So on this day of New Beginnings, this Resurrection Sunday, I declare that I am in a season of New Beginnings. And just as it is today, it is all good. I’m at a new beginning in every area of my life. Transition was good. It showed me destiny and calling, but it’s now time to begin to move into it all. We will see what God has to bring me. He is so good. All I can do is smile and ask “What’s next, Papa?”