By: Mayra Corro
"See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland."Isaiah 43:19
It is easy to encounter this verse and think that God is doing something new in your environment, your job, or maybe even your housing situation…at least, that's what I thought when I first read this verse.
It completely clicked for me this past Father's Day while my Dad and Stepmom stood beside me at church. I was reminded of another Father's Day back on June 16, 2019 when I didn't want to attend church. I tossed and turned in my bed, trying to go back to sleep but the thought of being at church didn't leave me alone until I got up, got ready, and walked into the middle of worship. I get teary just thinking of how hurt, sad, alone, and hopeless I felt walking through those doors. The message that day was about how reckless the love of God is and that He alone is our perfect Father. That was the day I rededicated my life to Christ.
Father's days were always tough for me. My Dad moved away when I was only one-year old. Even though I had a fantastic Stepdad, I always felt like something was missing. I was 16 when I moved to the United States with my Dad and Stepmom. They were very loving and caring people but were not who I had created in my head. My unmet expectations and the lack of a relationship with God made me turn to the world. A little over two years after I moved in with them, I decided to leave my Dad's house and figure things out "on my own." I was so lost and mad at my Father.
That Saturday, June 16, 2023, was a tangible example of God's power and redemption. In 2019 if you had told me that my Dad and Stepmom would be standing next to me at church, I probably would have laughed. This past Father's Day, I finally understood that God has been doing a new thing; He had been creating in me a new heart.
Ezekiel 36:26 says, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh."
Ezekiel hoped for a day when God would "remove the heart of stone" and give His people a "new heart of soft flesh." That hope became true when Jesus died on the cross for us. That day when I accepted Christ, the Spirit that Ezekiel 36:26 talks about started to live in me. It was then when God began to make a way in the wilderness, streams in the wasteland, and my heart of stone began to be replaced by a heart of flesh. Now I see God is and always will be after our hearts.