Let’s talk about getting a fresh start. Before we do that, though, I gotta ask; have you ever felt stuck in “a hole of depression, darkness, doom, anxiety and panic” with no visible way out? I sure have, and that’s the way pastor Louie Giglio described a season of his life when Relevant Magazine talked to him in the article, What to Do When You Need a Comeback. In that piece, Louis Giglio talked about comebacks and his book, The Comeback: It's Not Too Late and You're Never Too Far. I should note that this is NOT a book review… I’m simply inspired by one of the interviews conducted during the heavy promotional period for it. I’m reminded of something important. Seasons like what he described can seem like there’s so much darkness, you can really feel what’s left of the bleak hope in your life being slowly squeezed out of you. I’ve been in deep ruts like that. I bet you have as well.

My Need for a Fresh Start

My rut was one of lost confidence and an inability to move forward because of it. Life was out of balance at work, home and community. Here, I should explain that, when I say “community,” I am referring to an ability to contribute value to the lives of others. I’ll share more about that in a later post. While in this rut, though, I had been to the depths of the season and slowly building momentum for a comeback of sorts when the issue of Relevant Magazine containing Giglio’s interview landed in my mailbox. After reading it, along with period of great reflection, prayer and introspection, I came to understand how I was resisting God. I detail this season of life a lot more in Listen Up, Kids and it’s why “Go from Low to Glow” is one of the month-long topics in the Year of Listening Up series. This is the topic that says your fresh start is on its way.

Why You Need a Fresh Start and Comeback

Life can be disappointing – especially when it doesn’t work out like we hope. We know what it’s like to desire something different, better, or more. Just as Chuck E. Tate in 41 Will Come reminds that the strife we experience in our down seasons will come to an end; Giglio shows that comebacks celebrate new beginnings. You see, God is in the business making things new. He is in the business of giving a fresh start to his people precisely when they most need it. He gives hope to the hopeless. Direction to the wandering and aimless. Your current season of life is not your final season and it’s not endless. God is the God of comebacks and fresh starts. That’s true no matter what challenge you’re facing.

Your Fresh Start Isn't Necessarily for You

One of the best ways to get a fresh start is through the help of community. I love the way Giglio says it:

“Jesus said, ‘Lazarus come forth,’ but it took the community to come and unwrap him from the grave clothes before he could actually walk in the freedom Jesus made available to him… then there’s the practical working out that usually doesn’t happen by ourselves—there’s usually a community involved in that process… our friends, our neighbors, our wife, our husband, daughter, mom, dad, sister, brother they usually see that point long before we do.”

Book of Judges is, as Giglio observes in the sermon that's shared below, “a tragic story with a beautiful ending.” Israel is in trouble like they always seem to be, because they keep going back to old ways after God has redeemed them. Like Israel, we sometimes “gotta go through the shakedown.” Sometimes we have to go through the same shakedown again. I genuinely believe God is sculpting us every day and there are some periods of time when the pressure of the Potter’s hand hurts because we result the sculpting. At some point, we gotta accept God into the deepest arenas of our hearts. And there are times when we have to get out of relationships and circumstances that cause us to stray. A fresh start is a new beginning. It represents a new chapter and a new season. One of revival, hope and possibility. God is writing a story. Go forward with the confidence that God is still writing and you’re one of the important characters in that story. God is still writing. He’s still writing our story and he’s still writing the story of His ultimate glory. https://www.youtube.com/embed/DzwPoQMdM5o