Mark 2:21-22 (MSG) Jesus went on, “No one cuts up a fine silk scarf to patch old work clothes; you want fabrics that match. And you don’t put your wine in cracked bottles.”

One of the most common challenges I face as I learn to walk with Jesus is  bringing His new Spirit within me into my old life situations. It is such a process. My old life continues to evolve and change – creating a new skin – but it doesn’t happen instantly. And the truth is, we all have temptations, frustrations, and struggles in our lives that impact us and some of them, without thinking, cause us to fall into old habit, or ‘old flesh’. 

So today I write to simply remind myself and maybe someone else out there: It’s ok – let go of it all. All control. All the old ways. He has got me and He’s got you, if we let Him. I don’t want to waste or ruin the new by putting it in an old skin, taking something so beautiful and putting it in a broken vessel – there is a better way. But apart from you, I can do nothing.

Lord, make me new, in Spirit and in Flesh. Purify me. Teach me to hold to you through it all – every storm, temptation, frustration, and struggle. Thank you Lord for hearing my prayer and your endless mercy and patience with me. Amen.

And a few throwback photos. God is so unfailing in His mercies, bringing beauty and joy even amidst brokenness. Praise Jesus.