How can we start over when we see that we have lost everything, when nothing is left, when everything has collapsed?
Not having an answer to this question has led many to depression and even to death. It is hard to find the door of hope in the midst of so much destruction. Nevertheless, the best way to start over is to start, and to start with God. When Job faced his loss, he said:
“Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21).
This man did not say this the way I am repeating it at this moment; it arose from an experience with God in which he had lost houses, children, servants, livestock, money, and his reputation as a man perfect before God (because in ancient times they considered sickness and adversity to be a punishment from God), and he even lost his health to scabies that covered his whole body.
I think about those things and I do not know how I would have reacted. He did not lose one house, but several; not one child, but sons and daughters; his servants were put to the sword, and his possessions were plundered, and what was left was consumed by fire that fell from heaven. Yet in the midst of so much suffering and sorrow, Job did grieve, but even so he worshiped God, and the Word says that “in all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly” (vv. 20, 22). Human beings tend to blame God, to blaspheme his name when they confront a crisis or situations they do not understand but judge to be unjust, and they cry out: “Why me, why me?”, instead of saying: “Help me, Lord, show me your will in all this situation, open my understanding, guard my lips, give me strength, increase my faith.”
There is something God taught me on one occasion when, furious with myself for not having noticed certain errors in a piece of work, I was driving home meditating on it and telling the Lord: “My God, how did I not notice, when those errors were so obvious? Lord, help me to be more careful, more rigorous in my review. Tell me, heavenly Father, how I can free myself from making these mistakes in the future.” At that moment, I was paying the toll to cross the bridge that I have crossed millions of times in these 22 years that I have lived in New York, but, lost in my thoughts, I turned my face and saw a sign at the toll station that said: “STOP”, and as an acrostic it read: Stop, Thinking, Observe and Proceed. That is: Stop, think, observe, and proceed. I said, “Hallelujah, Lord, I had never had such a quick answer!!” The point here is:
- 1. Stop myself, pause, not go so fast, not take things for granted;
- 2. Think, meditate, concentrate on what I am doing, not do one thing while thinking about another;
- 3. Observe, examine in detail, look with attention; and
- 4. Proceed, continue, go on because I have already taken the proper precautions. What wisdom! Since then, I have made these words my work motto, and I pass them on to those who, like me, want to do their work with excellence. I also try to apply them to other areas of my life in the light of the Word of God.
Therefore I conclude that what seems like the end is nothing but the starting point for something far better. Please, believe me. No matter the degree of the loss or the condition we find ourselves in, believe that we are in the best position to begin something new, something different, and now with the blessing of God. How many things we would like to do and cannot, because we are trapped in a house, enslaved in a business or job, or overloaded with many responsibilities… Having nothing is the moment to start over, correcting what is deficient and leaving behind what remains behind, to soar on the wings of the Spirit, always seeking the will of God, which is good and acceptable and perfect. Who knows whether, as with Job, God has your future prepared to be better than what you had at first!
Think about it…
I do not want to end these notes without first saying that there is something we will never lose, and that is the love of God and his company. He never leaves us; he is the good Samaritan who has given his life for us, the one who heals our wounds, the one who lifts us up and carries us to the inn so that we may recover. Even if father and mother leave us, he never leaves us, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good (Rom 8:28).
Our life with him is always a new beginning. Hallelujah!!!
By Marítza Mateo-Sención
