EMBRACE THE NEW PATH: LET GO OF THE OLD.

Has God redirected your life? Is He asking you to let go of the old and embrace the new He is doing? Have you been wondering how God would use the skills you invested in prior to His redirection? Are you worried that you will not recover the time, resources, and years you spent prior to God’s redirection? Are you having a hard time letting go of what was and embracing the new? If any of this speaks to you, then I have a word of encouragement and actionable steps to take. But before we begin maybe we need to talk about God’s redirection. 

Why does God redirect us? 

You know God says that before the beginning of time, He had us in His mind. And as He created us He had a purpose for each of us. That’s why it’s important for you to recognize that you were not a mistake. It does not matter how you came to this world. You are not a mistake. God knew about you before you were born and He curated a purpose specifically for you. You are and will always be a solution to the world. Now, unfortunately, because of culture, background, or trauma, we can find ourselves veering off a path that God did not ordain for us.

This is where His redirection comes in. God knows the best you that you can become. He has already been to your future and so He knows what works best with who He created you to be. The creator is the only one who knows the best use of what He creates. And Him being the Potter and us being the clay, He knows what works best and how we can best thrive on earth. He knows our unique abilities and how we can use them to become a solution to the world. When God created you in His image, He placed a unique aspect of Him in you. And it is when you are walking in your purpose that this aspect of Him can be best reflected on earth. 

Now the only way it can be revealed to the world is when we are on the path that best lets that attribute shine. You see, when God redirects you, He gets you back to the God path. There are so many good paths but not all good paths are God’s paths. And one key way to know if you are on the God path is by analyzing your life to see if your life’s mission is congruent with your identity in Christ.

When you are walking on the path you are on, does your most unique attribute shine? Do you even know what that is? What makes you, you? When you are able to answer that, then the next step is to see if you are living Authentically. Do you have different ways you present yourself to others? Are you congruent in how you love your life, both around people you don’t know and those you know? If the answer is no, then clearly there is something missing. And this is why God shifts you to a new path. He wants you to walk in the fullness He created you to be. He wants that unique attribute in you to shine. And in order to do that, He will sometimes take you through painful situations and isolation so that He can get you to rediscover who you are. 

But how can you embrace the new?.

Have a relationship with God

When God redirects you, His goal is to get you to have a deeper relationship with Him and get to know Him. We were created to have a fellowship with God. God’s goal has always been you and me. That is why He sent His son, to begin with. Reconciliation was the plan. And this was because of the love He had and will always love you and me. God wants you to discover more about Him. And in turn get people to know about Him through the unique gift He placed inside you. There is a people that only you can reach, and God wants to first have a relationship with you to get to that point. This is why He will redirect you to begin with. 

Having a relationship with God starts with accepting Him as your Lord and Saviour. It starts with you saying yes to Him and heeding His call. Surrendering to God is the key to having a relationship with Him. Do you have a relationship with God? You see for you to get to the new path He has for you, you need to hear from Him. And because God is Spirit the only way you can really hear from Him is when your spirit is connected to Him. That’s why receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior is key in your life.

Once you say yes, your spirit comes alive and your spiritual senses are activated and you are able to hear God for yourself. In Ephesians 2:1, Paul reminds us that in the past we were spiritually dead. But through Jesus, God raised us. He who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

But God’s mercy is so abundant, and his love for us is so great, 5 that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience he brought us to life with Christ. It is by God’s grace that you have been saved. 6 In our union with Christ Jesus, he raised us up with him to rule with him in the heavenly world.7 He did this to demonstrate for all time come to the extraordinary greatness of his grace in the love he showed us in Christ Jesus.

8 For it is by God’s grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts,9 but God’s gift, so that no one can boast about it. 10 God has made us what we are, and in our union with Christ Jesus, he has created us for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for us to do. Ephesians 2:4-10

This decision to believe Jesus is simple. You only need to believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you will be saved.

 10 For with your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth, you confess and are saved.…

Find out who He is.

Once you cultivate a relationship with God, the next thing is to get to know Him. For you to know who God is, the first thing you need to do is read the Bible. You know, the Bible is a love letter written for us by God. And it is in the Bible that He speaks to you who He is. The more you read the Bible, the more you get revelations of who God is and His character. In His redirection, you will realize that He is doing it for your good. But in order to get to that point, you have to know His character. It is by knowing Him that you will get to understand and trust Him when He tells you to move.

Most times, God will ask us to follow a path that we are unfamiliar with. And when you do not have an intimate relationship with Him, it will be very difficult to follow what He tells you because you will not trust His leading. Because of spending time with God, Moses was able to trust God even in the midst of impossible situations. In Exodus 14, the Egyptians were coming after them and in front of them was the Red Sea.

Moses trusted that God would deliver them. He even told the Israelites that in verse 14 before God gave him the revelation of what to do to part the Red Sea. When you know God, you will trust who He says He is and you will follow His leading even when it does not make sense. God knows that it is not easy to leave your comfort zone and step into the new. That is why you getting to know Him so that you can trust Him will help you.

Find out what God says about you.

In your redirection, you will have to know your identity in Jesus. This is how you discover what your purpose is. Like I told you earlier, God created you for a purpose. He did not create you as an afterthought. This means He intricately designed you to be you. Check out the scripture below.

For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.
¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts,^[a] God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ Were I to count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand—
    when I awake, I am still with you.

God says He created you for a purpose. He even predestined you before you were born and He ordained you. It is in Him that you will discover who He says you are. The more you get to know Him, the know you get to discover who you are. In His presence, the very essence of who you are will come alive because He will reveal your identity to you. It might be through a dream. Or it could even be through a desire that springs up that you did not even have before.

Either way, the more you spend time with God, the more your true nature comes alive. God always wants you to live authentically. So He will tear down everything that does not align with who He created you to be. He will deal with all the trauma and then take you through the healing process. When you get to the other side, there will be things and personality traits that you had that do not define you that God will highlight and help you shed off.

It can be difficult letting go of traits that in the past defined you. But don’t allow the comfort of who you were to prevent you from stepping into your authentic self. Embrace that person that God is calling you to be. God wants you to live your best life. It is okay to reinvent yourself. If what you were doing was not working before, it is okay to try to embrace the new.

Scriptures that describe who you are.

1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Ephesians 1:5
He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.

Ephesians 2:10
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Isaiah 43:1
But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”

Isaiah 49:16
“Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.”

John 1:12
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

John 15:15
“No longer do I call you servants, for the servant, does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”

Make peace with the past by letting go

Now that you know who you are, it is important for you to make peace with the past. Some of the ways you can do that is by forgiving yourself for your past mistakes and failures. Sometimes what holds us back is unforgiveness. You should not allow the enemy to keep you stuck in shame and guilt. As long as you are a child of God, the old has passed away and you are now a new creation. God wiped the slate clean and you are no longer condemned. Let go of the past and move forward. Jesus has a beautiful life for you on the other side of letting go.

The other thing you need to do is stop focusing on the good old days. Yes the past was good. But God always takes you from glory to glory. This means that your latter years will always be greater than your former years. What is coming is so much greater than what God is asking you to let go of. It is okay to acknowledge your past, but don’t dwell there. Move forward and embrace the new thing God is doing in your life.

Unlearn the old ways to embrace the new path.

Unlearning the old patterns is another way that can help you embrace the new thing God is doing in your life. For you to embrace the new, there are some habits you will have to leave behind. Analyze the habits that do not serve you now. Maybe you have harbored unforgiveness in your heart. It is time for you to let go of that and learn how to forgive. You could also be someone that operates in trauma.

There could be some coping mechanism that helped you in the past that God wants you to let go of. Maybe you do not know how to let people in because of the pain you experienced in the past. God could be asking you to let your guard down and let people in because He wants you to experience rich relationships. Or maybe He is preparing you for love. Whatever it is, it is important that you let go of all the coping mechanisms that do not serve you in order for you to embrace the new.

If you don’t even know what coping mechanism you have been holding on to, consider going for therapy. Therapy will help you analyze all the limiting beliefs that have been holding you back. As you let go of the limiting beliefs you will be able to embrace the new path God has for you. God wants to see you healed and made whole. He wants you to experience the freedom He purchased for you. And this comes from letting go of everything that does not serve you.

Relearn the new ways.

Unlearning the old ways is not enough to help you step into the new path. You have to also learn new ways of thinking and doing things. God tells us that we should renew our minds daily. When you do not replace the old habits and way of thinking ew ones, you will be likely to revert back to your old ways. You can learn new ways and thought patterns through scripture, listening to podcasts, prayer, worship, fellowship with the Holy Spirit, and mentorship.

For every negative and unswerving pattern, find one that can replace it. When looking for podcasts to listen to or mentorship. Find people who have experience in the path that God is taking you. This will help to encourage you as well as learn the skills you need in the new path. Embracing the new path requires you to take on a new identity. This will help you be your best and true self in the new path.

Solitude

Solitude is vital in the journey of embracing your new path. It is in solitude that you will be able to hear your soul and even get to know who you really are. Embracing alone time will help you silence the external noises and stay in tune with who you really are. It is also in the stillness that you are able to hear God speak to you. No wonder Jesus used to withdraw and spend time alone. You too need to practice that as well. Spend time alone. Listen to your thoughts. Discover who you are and then walk in your authenticity. The world will adjust when you embrace your true self. And also you will be able to find the confidence to embrace the new path that God is taking you on. Confidence, boldness, and courage all come when you learn to embrace solitude.

Journaling

Writing down your thoughts also helps you make sense of your emotions and who you are. In so doing you will discover who God called you to be giving you the confidence you need to embrace the new path.

Journaling helps you to make sense of the internal things going on. You will also articulate your emotions, your fears, and worries. This will help you to confront them giving you the confidence to embrace the new. If you want to confront the fear of stepping into a new thing and embracing the new path, journal your fears. As you do so, you will realize that although the fears are valid they can be solved. As you do that, you will also be able to pray to God telling Him exactly what you are feeling.

And the more you open up to Him, the more He pours out His peace and healing power. God can only heal what you give to Him. It is when you cast your burdens into Jesus that He is able to give you the peace and the easy yoke that He so wants to I’ve you. You are not walking this journey alone. You are doing it with Jesus and He is with you every step of the way.

Conclusion.

The skills you have prior to your redirection, God will still use them. Joseph was

Embracing a new path is not always easy. But when you give your burdens to God, give Him your fears and your doubts, HE will lessen the load for you. God wants you to trust Him and lean on Him. He is not asking you to figure everything out on your own. He is asking you to trust Him. Yes, the path is unfamiliar, but it is in your weakness that His strength is revealed. Remember, you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. If He is calling you to it, HE has equipped you for it. God has got you in the palm of His hand. Don’t be afraid, He is with you. It is time for you to embrace the new path.