Unsinkable Hope: God’s Promises and Your Mental HealthSample

A popular song when I was a teenager included the following lyric, “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.”

When God tells Noah after the flood to "be fruitful and multiply," these aren't new words. They're the exact words God spoke to Adam and Eve in Genesis 1. God is essentially hitting the reset button and starting over.

I believe Noah experienced mixed emotions in this moment. There was excitement about being out of the ark and free again, but also sadness recognizing they were the only humans alive on earth. There was hope for the future, but perhaps also some dread about the responsibility of starting over.

If you've graduated, accepted a new job, or are preparing to move, you know exactly what these mixed emotions feel like. You're excited for the future God has in front of you, yet a part of you is also sad about what you're leaving behind. You may feel hope as you look ahead, mixed with fear about the goodbyes.

According to my friend Robyn, who wrote an entire book about Noah’s story, Noah had been in the ark for 377 days. After all that time, I imagine Noah had mixed feelings about leaving.

My wife has been through major highs and lows over the past six months. After being appointed as a judge in our county, our family celebrated with the biggest party we’ve thrown since our wedding. But, she needed to be elected to keep her position at the end of the next year. During that campaign, others said horrible, untrue things about her. The intensity of the campaign took a major toll on her physical and mental health. After 10 months of difficult campaigning, she lost by 6% and was unemployed two weeks later. She grieved the loss deeply. It was a difficult holiday season. We scrambled to figure out health insurance and made radical changes to our family budget.

Since her loss, she’s taken several courageous steps, opening her own law firm, filling in for other judges, and applying for different positions. She’s not fully recovered, but we can see the end of this dark season coming soon.

But she recently told me how grateful she’s been for the gifts of this season. Our family recently took a weeklong vacation. Her flexible schedule has given her more time with our kids and allowed us to attend a marriage weekend. It’s been fascinating to watch her hold gratitude and grief together.

If you're coming to the end of a storm and entering a new beginning, I want to encourage you to:

• Leave time for yourself to grieve. We live in a culture that often resists grief, but the process of grieving takes longer than we realize.
• Be patient with your recovery. Unlike your phone, you can't recharge in an hour.
• Redefine yourself. Maybe you're not the same person you were when the storm started. Allow yourself to embrace who you've become.
• Embrace limits. You may not be capable of everything you were before. You may have different boundaries in this new era.

Prayer

God, thank You for the new beginnings You bring after storms in my life. Help me navigate the mixed emotions that come with transitions. Give me the courage to grieve what's ending, the patience to recover well, the wisdom to redefine myself according to Your purposes, and the humility to embrace my limits. I trust You with both my endings and my beginnings. Amen.

Today's Reflection

What "new beginning" might God be preparing in your life right now? What do you need to let go of to step fully into it?