Pastor Kyle Steven opened with new message on Sunday, December 13th,
appropriately themed “A Christmas Full of New Beginnings.” His message
focused on a somewhat “forgotten Christmas story” about the miraculous
birth of John the Baptist.
John the Baptist, one of the
most important prophets in the Bible, was born by the grace of God
alone. Both parents, older God-fearing people, had prayed for many,
many years that they would have a child. But Elizabeth, the mother, was
sterile. Still, the couple never gave up hope. One day Zachariah, the
father, was bestowed a blessing that promised that Elizabeth, though
older and sterile, would indeed give birth to a son named John.
This story is both beautiful
and humbling at the same time. It reminds me that God’s plans for us
are most of the time different than the ones we have for ourselves. But
more importantly, God is in control of it all.
There are many times in life
where it’s easy to feel anxiety over the things that are, or are not,
happening in our lives. I have fallen prey to those agonizing moments
where I am praying for something in my life, and almost demanding that
I receive those answers to my prayers immediately. Most of the time,
too, I have found that I don’t receive those answers. (Or haven’t yet,
anyway). Those are hard moments.
Kyle says earnestly, “We can’t
force God’s will to happen any quicker than God wants it to happen.” Is
there no more of nail-biting truth than that?
It sometimes difficult to
realize that the dreams and hopes that we have for ourselves may not
come true at the times that we desire them to. Some dreams may never
come true at all. And yet, God has a new beginning in store for us all.
Like Elizabeth and Zachariah,
it is imperative to remain faithful, and to believe that God will, in
some way, at some time, show us a new life that is more than what we
could have ever dreamed.
Kyle says it best: “God’s new beginning for us never comes how we expect it; and it’s always better than we could plan it.”