Trashing the New

It is possible that we can have such a wasteful mentality that we trash brand new things?  Moving from the Bronx to Long Island over 10 years was such a culture shock but in the best way.  When I first move here the people were, and still are, very generous.  It was overwhelming at times because I didn’t know how to process it.  Being a young mother with four small children, the church made sure that I was never in need.  One day after running errands with my family we walked to our back porch to find 2 HUGE garbage bags of baby clothes for my 2 littlest ones.  Now you may be thinking that these were slightly used items but to my absolute surprise, over 60% of the clothes had never been worn and still had their tags on them.  After sorting everything out, both my little ones, (my son and daughter) had clothes for the next 3 years.  The idea that someone would have so many new items for their baby and never use them was so bizarre to me.  I was grateful, but it was still bizarre. But the truth is that we are a nation that throw away many thing that we never use.  Many new things go in the trash.

This may appear as a weird question, but is there something new that you get all the time that you overlook, or feel is useless; so you waste it?  As we are entering into our New Year, there may still be some things that have to be taken out of our spiritual garbage can–things that we just don’t think we need so we put it in the trash.  Many of us have gotten rid of the “new” spiritual things in our lives and have taken them for granted.    Well, living more than 15,000 days, I have received something every single day.  There were times I used it for what it was meant to be used for and there were times I just threw it in the garbage.  But before I reveal what “it” is, let me tell you of how it changed my life first.

I received this thing every day when I felt like I was lower than dirt.  It kept me from prostituting myself to men, saved me from entering into an abusive marriage and kept me from destroying my children’s lives with my dysfunction.  The power that this thing wielded keeps me from having the expected mental disorders that I should posses as a result of my abuse.

Waking Up To A New Slate

Any guesses on what this could possibly be?  Have you figured out yet?  It’s not strength, willpower or luck.  It’s found in Lamentations 3:22-23,

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;^[b]
    his mercies never come to an end;
²³ they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.

 What is your definition of mercy?  The dictionary says that, mercy is when someone shows “compassion, forgiveness toward someone who it is within one’s power to punish or harm.”  So basically, instead of punishing and harming a person who I feel absolutely deserves it, I choose to show compassion and forgiveness.

I understood this scripture better when I had children… oh man, did I understand this (sigh)!!  My two younger ones can be a handful when they are together so I find myself at times scratching the walls to relieve stress. There were quite a few occasions when bedtime would come and at that exact moment my kids wanted to test my patience.  Man, did they regret that!  They would provide a variety of ways to try and provoke my anger. From fighting with each other, to fooling around when it was time to go to sleep–they would try to see how far they could go before I stormed upstairs to lay the fivefold ministries on their blessed assurance… if you know what I mean.  The hard part for me wasn’t the discipline before bed, it was waking up the next morning without holding a grudge.  I did everything I could to make sure that if my kids were ever disciplined the day before, I wouldn’t begin shaming them or reminding them of the wrong they did the following morning.  God spoke to me very early about my parenting and told me, “I give you new mercies every morning, you must show the same amount of mercy to your children.”  My kids grew to enjoy the next morning even if they had a rough yesterday.  Sam and I try to make sure that they feel like the slate is wiped clean when the sun rises.

Living in Pain with Mercy

So, how should one understand God’s mercy, as his child?  When I take a look at the natural definition of this word, I feel like God is saying to us every single morning, “I chose to put aside what you did the day before.  Now let’s start brand new today.”

My testimony began at a young age, where I made a conscious decision to reject God and all he had to offer me.  It was clear that I rebelled against him. I disregarded the mercy I was given the day before and did what I wanted with no plans on stopping.  Even though I was a child I treated the mercy he gave me like it was garbage.  I could careless if he forgave me for my sin, I wanted nothing to do with him because I felt like I was already living in his punishment.  Little did I know that even in my deepest hurt and pain I was still living in his mercy.  He was having compassion on me when I deserved absolute punishment and harm because of my choices.

Let’s look at Lamentations 3:22-24 some more,

²² Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
²³ They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
²⁴ “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I hope in Him!”

Why does God give us mercies when we deserve punishment?  My Heavenly Father sees my hurt over my behavior.  I spent a small season rejecting God but he knew my rejection was stemmed from my affliction and hurt.  The awesome thing about this verse is that it confirms what we talked about last week concerning suffering increasing our hope.  When we are in emotional pain and our failures come to our mind, we don’t have to give up because we have hope.  To the average person this is the most ridiculous concept.  But like we spoke about last week, suffering causes us to hope in God.  Where suffering and afflictions we face normally should consume us, God’s mercy keeps us from being swept away.  It is because of this mercy that we trust in him.

You may have a hard time admitting this, if this is you, but think about the darkest time of your life… Did you feel that God was gone?  Did you think that God left you?  Did you ask God where he was?  Think of that moment as I tell you this…

…As dark as you think your life was at that time, God’s mercies kept you from experiencing complete darkness.

It is hard to comprehend that our darkest moments in life were still shadowed by God’s mercy every single day during those seasons.  However, this is why we can say “Great is Your faithfulness” when we are at our lowest.  His mercy is not contingent on our behavior, obedience or even our victories.  He gives it because he knows that we can’t survive without it.  It is air to our lungs, the food to our bellies, and the coverage over our nakedness.

If you spat at God’s mercy at any point this past year, if you can admit that you took it for granted and threw it away, I want to encourage you to take your “new” mercy out of the garbage and receive God as your portion.  Embracing it will allow you to move forward and grow closer to him spiritually.

If you need help feel free to contact me.  Also if you would like to hear more about my testimony read my book, “The Threshing: A Weapon Forged by Fire.” Sign up here to read the first three chapters for free!
You can also buy the full book on Amazon!  If you need additional help, please feel free to comment below or email us at thruthewinters@gmail.com.  Before you leave please listen to this beautiful reminder of God’s goodness.