Starting Over To Just Start Again

Over the past year there have been many transitions that were expected, but many came at different times and paces than desired. I've spoken often of these transitions as really one big life transition of the process of sanctification. Its a slow crawl uphill at times or sometimes it can even feel like ONE step forward and TWO steps backwards. Right now in so many areas of life, I feel that I'm starting over, just to start again. What I mean by this is simple but not always desired. Sometimes we have to just start over on things we have historically started before at some point in the past... Currently for myself this has fleshed itself out in certain areas, for instance. 1- Having to have the same shoulder surgery that I previously had in 2005, all over again, while adding another 6 months of rehab. 2- Learning to write in a journal about what the Lord puts on my heart daily, or what He exposes in scripture again. An old discipline that has lacked to say the least. 3- Discipling young men. Thought I was moving into a season of planting a more holistic church and leading a team of both older and younger, yet Im back to the grind of getting young men to simply be obedient to the commands of Christ and act like men instead of boys. 4-Moving to a new location, and beginning to form community, after spending the past 6 years of building and being apart of a great community where everyone knows you and loves you for who you are. 5-After laboring years to build 2 major companies and then selling off most of the assets, to then move across the world (where everything is backwards and difficult to understand the simple things) and try to do something new all over again knowing it could fail or be swept away over night. 6- Relationships, going through 3 long term relationships looking and trying to discover one another, realizing your both broken, trying to love each other with Christ at the center, and then BAM! back to singleness to start all over again. 7-But the biggest and most difficult one of these occurrences is always repentance. Repentance is always the hardest thing for the heart to do. To turn from our idols, comforts, disbelief, and rebellion, and turn back to the cross looking to the perfecter and founder of our hope in Jesus alone. Repentance often comes in many forms, situations, confessions, but it mainly is accomplished when the heart gives up on trying to accomplish on its own what only grace can do, grace intervenes, and then we begin to start over where we originally started with the Lord, humbled, in need of Him, and trusting Him above all and for all. The only difference is, that after repentance, one doesn't really start over where it originally began. Although it may feel that way, we have truly progressed in our holiness and have become more like Christ. We have put off the old self, and on the new. We have turned from our sin, and trusted once again in something more satisfying and loving than our sin. We found what was never lost, just hard to see because we have been so blind. We've found Jesus all over again, to be sweet and loving comforter that He is. We have started over, just to start again.