“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. – Jeremiah 31:33

This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. – Hebrews 8:10

I am a writer.  I’m not sure other writers feel this way, but I love to just stare at and experience a new sheet of paper.  Something about it excites me.  Even the smell of it is inspiring.  No ink has marred the fresh, crisp page.   No story has been written.   It is blank.   It is empty.   Yet it beckons to be used.   There is a freedom in its empty lines…a freedom to express myself in whatever I desire.   The possibilities are endless when faced with a blank sheet of paper.

And then I write on it.   A whole new experience refreshes my soul.  Sure, the paper is no longer clean, no longer empty, no longer void of words.  Yet the opposite is just as exhilarating.  Words!  Words express thoughts, and thoughts come from the heart.   My heart now beats on that once empty page for the world to see.

Recently God has been leading me through a journey in which He closed one journal of my life and opened another.   When I first opened this new journal, it was blank.  At first the thought of waiting for God to fill the empty pages appeared frightening; I had to let go of my own, old story to allow Him the chance to begin His new one.  As I learned to be still God quickly showed me the joys of waiting for Him to begin. Being still and waiting as God Himself took in the empty pages of this new me became refreshing.   He’d already written the story in His plan before the foundation of the earth, but these past months He blessed me with the opportunity to rest in the emptiness–to even find joy and hope in it as well–as He prepared to write His plan on my heart.

Waiting eagerly for God has become exciting to me. There is such joy in the waiting, such anticipation at what will come.   What plan does He have for my future?  What people will He write into my story?  What challenges will come and attempt to rattle my faith?   What miracles will He perform to draw me and those around me to Himself?  Who will He have me be for His kingdom?   The anticipation is exhilarating and full of hope.   Sure, I may not know yet how God will write the details of the story, but I do know that as I allow Him to write it, I can trust in the true author and finisher of my faith.

“…looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” – Hebrews 12:2