Turn Around

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Written By Nancy Hicks Live

Canada Day and Independence Day have made their summer splash, so it’s official. Also official: it’s “green” in our area. After months of COVID-19 “red,” it’s time to get up and out and get back to normal, right?

How easy it would be to move on and be like, “Whoa, that was weird. What was that?”

And at the risk of being too heavy, because I don’t know about you but it’s all been too heavy lately—I truly, truly am praying that you got what God wanted for you during COVID-19. I mean, God showed you something or taught you something you know (or didn’t know) you needed. And you got it. I mean you really understood and took it in.

I recently told Cam, “I need to laugh. I need a break!”  Then I spent the entire day reading a book purely for pleasure. And I laughed and laughed and at one point my laughter turned to tears. It felt bang on. During the heavy lockdown, I spent a lot of time in the Old Testament Prophets: Daniel, Ezekiel, and Isaiah, then back to Daniel (no offense, Jeremiah), which, in part, explains why I needed to lighten up and laugh.

But one message was clear to me through this time: Repentance. A message of repentance. Meaning: Turn around.

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The prophets’ major cry to the people of God then, and I would argue, to all people now, was:


“For our offenses are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us. Our offenses are ever with us…"

BUT


“‘The Redeemer will come… to those …who repent of their sins,’ declares the LORD” (Isaiah 59:12, 20).

Now, I’m not sure where that lands with you today because repentance doesn’t sell. But it is a foundational Christian message and a message God has given to me today. I truly pray that if you didn’t take the time to examine your heart, mind, and actions in recent weeks, you examine them now. Use the following as starting points: 

  • God, do I believe you’re real? I do! Now show me how to align myself with You today. 

  • God, search my heart. Show me things I had no idea were there. I can be so arrogant, thinking I know You, that I know Your preferences and what You’re like, but the truth is, I know so little! Turn me back to you, O God.

  • God, I do see things I’ve struggled to admit. I do see my secret attitudes. I do see my frustration. I do see my elitism or racism or (pick your “ism”). I turn to you now.

Summer’s a perfect time for opening the windows and clearing out the cobwebs.

Do that spiritually. If you didn’t do it during the COVID-19 lock down, do it now. Turn to God. Don’t wait. It’s an amazing gift to turn back to a God who loves us. It feels like a refreshing breeze through an open window on a summer’s day.

I’m real because God is so real.

Nancy Hicks Live