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Blog
What is New Normal?
Written by Michelle J. Goff
I have a love/hate relationship with the expression “new normal.” I’m not sure I ever understood “old normal” either, but with a New Year and a strong desire to put many aspects of 2020 behind us, I offer this explanation and encouragement.
After a perfect storm in my gut back in 2009, I had to establish a new normal in the kitchen and make significant changes regarding my food consumption.
Friends are expecting a new baby, their first, and new normal will be in a constant state of flux for the next 18 years!
After the word “cancer” escapes the doctor’s lips, time stands still until the patient and her family can begin to process new normal.
Other friends got married in 2020 and think it was the best year ever! How about their new normal?
On the other hand, in 2020, while the world was reeling from a global pandemic, hurricanes ravaged Central America and the Gulf Coast. New normal will not be reestablished for months or years in some areas where bridges were washed out and roads need to be rebuilt.
Feelings of isolation, helplessness, anxiety, and depression have become a new normal for many who have struggled to deal with the constant blows dealt them, especially in the year 2020.
If there is one thing we can count on not to change, it is the fact that things will always change.
The more things change, the more they remain the same.
I do not know to whom we can attribute the two preceding quotes. However, they remind me of Solomon’s words in Ecclesiastes.
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” (Ecc. 3:1, ESV).
Solomon follows this introduction with a list of things that there is a time for… to be born and to die, to plant and to harvest, to seek and to lose (which may happen multiple times in a day). Everyone is in a constant navigation of “new normal.”
However, the expression that sticks out to me right now is from the second part of verse 5, “A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing.” My love language is not physical touch, but I am really missing the hugs and the smiling faces on Sunday mornings.
New normal for Sunday morning church gatherings may be virtual, but it has allowed me to “gather” with Christians all across the world in Bible study, prayer meetings, and Sunday church services. I kinda like that version of new normal.
When Jesus came to earth and experienced a true new normal, starting out as a helpless, vulnerable baby, His life became the hope of a true new normal in His name.
The religious leaders didn’t know what to make of this teacher that taught as one who had authority. New normal for the demons was a grim prospect. And when we get to the moment of His crucifixion, there was everything new and nothing normal about His resurrection!
Oh, what a blessing to have the hope of a new life, a new normal, in Christ! What a joy to anticipate a new normal in heaven where there will be no more night, no more sadness, no more illness…
For everything there is a season… and I am thrilled to know that Christ walks with me during the challenges of any new normal season here on earth, until we can join with Him forever in heaven!
What has your new normal looked like recently?
How have you seen Christ walk with you in your new normal?
What does the reminder of a new normal awaiting you in heaven do for you?
Refined and Redefined
Written by Tiffany Jacox, volunteer with Iron Rose Sister in Bellevue, NE
Well, here we are...2021! Are you leaping for joy and full of new hope or cautiously peering into the New Year? 2020 was full of turbulence, of that we can all agree. It is customary to take time at the end of a year to look back and reflect on what transpired throughout that year. I urge you, if you haven’t already, to take a few moments to do so. Take inventory of the things you witnessed, the things you experienced, your relationship with Jesus, the choices you made and ask yourself how those things changed you.
You see, we are shaped by thousands of little things each day. Little acts, small choices, big decisions, they all have consequences and our experiences help shape the person of whom we will become. If we rely on ourselves or on the voices of the world, we may not be refined the way we should be or would like to be. In your time of reflection over the past year, and preparation for the year ahead, remember who you should be talking to and from where we should seek advice.
We should be spending time in the Word of God and speaking to Him in prayer daily, asking Him for wisdom. Proverbs 3:5 (NIV) reminds us to, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.” We will grow and change through our experiences and God will strengthen us through the trials. “Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will also help you, I will also uphold you with My righteous right hand” (Isa. 41:10, NASB).
We can look forward with joy and anticipation to this New Year with a new opportunity to be not only refined but redefined. God uses our experiences to refine us and we are redefined in Jesus. If you are a Christian you have already been made new. If you aren’t a Christian yet, don’t wait! Get to know our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the new life only He can give. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Cor. 5:17, KJV). The old has passed away and new things have come; we have been redefined!
As we make our New Years’ Resolutions or plans for the upcoming year, remember to keep God in the center of our planning. “Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will do it” (Ps. 37:5, AMP). We must not dwell on the past or things of this world, they are temporary. We need to keep our focus clear and straight ahead. “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth” (Col 3:2, NKJV). Allow God to be at the center of all you do and He will guide the way, “The mind of man plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps” (Prov. 16:9, NASB).
God has given us a sweet fellowship in Iron Rose Sister Ministries and a way to be refined, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another” (Prov. 27:17, NIV). No more looking behind, only looking ahead, together, as refined and redefined women of God!
