For something new to be built, the old building must be removed and destroyed to make space for the new one. Even if the old building is just going through renovations, there is a time of demolition before the new space can be worked on. The new doesn't just magically appear in place of the old. It moves from demolition to construction. And this "work" time is usually uncomfortable and filled with unexpected challenges that are a part of the preparation of the new thing that is being constructed. It works the same in our lives.
We experience something. We don't like it and we formulate in our minds and hearts what we would prefer to experience. We revel in the beauty of the new thing we are experiencing in our minds. But the first step in the process of the creation of this new experience is the removal of the past, of the person we were, so that we can experience the person we want to be - the person who can accept and appreciate the newness and blessing coming into our lives. But this is where we can get stuck.
Misery can become comfortable. It's what we know and what we expect. It is easy to sit quietly in it. Why? Because we fear the work necessary and the unexpectedness of moving from misery to joy. So we make our misery everyone else's fault. We say, if the people in my life change, then my life will be better. We may think that if we change the people and circumstances in our lives, our lives will be better. And while there is some truth to that, if we don't change the person we are, we will continue to experience the same stuff with different faces in different places.
We must let the old us - the old thought patterns that created the life we are experiencing - pass away in order for a new thought pattern, a new attraction point, a new us to be created.
Yet this is where we get stuck. The process of demolishing the old thought pattern and embracing a new one is challenging. The idea of facing our fears is daunting. And the thought of walking through that valley of the shadow of death can be so overwhelming that we turn around and stay the same person who accepts the misery that we expect in our lives.
But the shadow of death isn't the reality of it. It has no substance. The fears you face, when you stand and look them in the eye are not real, they have no power and as you WALK THROUGH the valley and realize that there are only shadows and that the power of God is with you and in you. You see that this power is greater than your fear and you see that it is your choice to believe in the power of this fear or believe in the power of God to bring you through.
Facing these fears and knowing you don't have to believe them anymore tears down the old you. This process creates the space for you to install new beliefs about yourself and your possibilities and you will find new blessings and new mercies as you see the image of the life you want to experience being manifested for you.
As scary as it can seem, the people, places and things of your old life - manifestations of your old though processes - can and must be let go of to make room for the newness of life you desire to experience. Trying to make a new life with old materials will only leave in the same misery you have been experiencing. As Jesus said, you can't put new wine into old wine skins. The old skins will break and be worthless. Be the new person who experiences these new things.
Write a list, or a story, of the life you want to experience. Make it as detailed as you possibly can. Write it in present tense. Now think about who you are now and your beliefs about what you want to experience. Now write a another list, another story, of the person you have to be in order to experience this new thing, complete with all the new beliefs and even personality traits necessary. When you feel hesitation about the possibilities of what you have written, explore it. Ask yourself why can't you have the life you want. You will discover that you (or the beliefs you accepted from your parent, teachers, preachers, etc.) created the boundaries that keep you trapped in the cycles of life you are experiencing and you will know that YOU HAVE THE POWER to remove those boundaries and experience more and better than you have known to this point.
Embrace the process of removing the debris from your life. Removal of the people, places and even things that you hold on to that keep you from standing in your power and living the greatness you are. While it will create an empty space, this is the space that you can begin to fill with the newness of you - and the newness of you will attract new people, places and things that look like the list/story you have written for your life.
I am experiencing this right now.
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