Beauty for Ashes - The Series
more on: starting over & a fresh slate
New week, new letter! 🩷 Hope you’re all having a lovely week so far. I had to take a mini-break from writing, but I’m back!! Welcome to September, we’re officially heading into the latter part of the year, and I’m very expectant. How about you? In case you missed it, I started a series last month titled, ‘The Beauty for Ashes Series’ dedicated to reaching those who may have gone through hard seasons and have found it difficult to see beyond their realities. In my last newsletter I spoke on friendships, today we’ll be speaking on starting afresh. I hope this newsletter truly meets you where you are. But before we get into it, I have some exciting updates!!
🗞️ Roundup of Lessons in Seasons
💌 Rhieme Recommends: ‘The Threshold’ Devotional: I started reading this devotional almost a month ago and it’s been so apt and timely. It has profound insights and I highly recommend it for anyone who is navigating a transition. This is an excerpt from it:
📌 For those who prefer listening- listen below!
Now let’s get into today’s newsletter! 🩷
Coming Out On the Other Side
Today I’ll be speaking on, coming out on the other side and rebuilding again. When we face adversity and testing periods, it can be very easy to not be able to see past those circumstances. It can feel very dark, you may even feel purposeless because you may tied your sense of worth and identity to a particular happening. What I’ve come to realise is, just when we think a situation may have seen the end of us and there is no coming back — there is always a way out with God. But each of us need to make this decision for ourselves — are we going to allow ourselves stay stuck? Or we are we ready to move forward, no matter how difficult it may seem? If you’ve been reading my newsletters for a while, you probably would have heard me speak on this a number of times — the importance of being able to move on from past experiences. The process of this can be difficult and even seem impossible, but when we partner with God, there is nothing impossible for Him. We are young and truly at the start of our journeys— why should we write ourselves off from all that is to come because of our present moment?
“We have a choice between being remembered for our legacy or being defined by our pain”—Jumoke Adenowo
This is one of my favourite quotes by Jumoke Adenowo and it honestly summarises what I’ve come to learn. Each of us need to make a decision to not be defined by circumstances, but rather remember who we truly are in God. No longer can we allow outcomes be deciding factor on how we choose to view ourselves:
Your business may have failed — this doesn’t make you a failure, given you are not your business, it is a by-product of what you do.
You may have received a rejection when you thought you were right in front of the door of your yes — this doesn’t mean you’re on the wrong path or you’re not good enough. We have an assurance that all things worth together for our good, even when what we are faced with appears to be bad.
You may have received unexpected outcomes that seem to be the end of you: an outcome on a temporary circumstance doesn’t define the future God has in store for you.
Jeremiah 29:11 “ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Rebuilding and Picking Up the Pieces Again
A fresh slate is available to you today. You can experience new beginnings in all facets of your life. From relationships, mindsets, healing from past situations and having increased expectations for the future and the present moment. New beginnings are available when we are ready to accept them. We don’t have to tie a new beginning to a huge breakthrough such as a new job, a promotion, making more money etc. God always has new days available to us, but the question is, are you ready to walk again?
It can start with a simple decisions such as:
Choosing to walk with God again: You may have been disappointed and this could have affected your relationship with God. But remember this, God is always good. His nature and character are unchanging. In circumstances that seem unexplainable and leave us questioning so many things, let us not forget this truth— God is the same yesterday, today and forever. The same God we praised when we had that answered prayer, is the same God we face even in the storm.
Increasing your expectations in life: you could start with a small decision to pick up your journal and begin to dream again.
Changing your mindset: this happens over time and it is certainly not an overnight process. A book I’ll recommend is ‘Battlefield of the Mind’ by Joyce Meyer. It’s a fantastic read for anyone struggling to develop a healthier mindset.
Making room in your heart for relationships: you may have written off people or created a block for how willing you are to let people in, but I’d like to encourage you to give people a chance again. I shared more on this in my last newsletter.
Letting go of past mistakes & forgiving others: it’s easy to hold on too tightly to past experiences that may have caused us pain. There could be regret, shame and other feelings involved. While it is good to acknowledge our feelings, we shouldn’t allow them create a caste over us.
Speak to someone: you could consider speaking to someone outside of your circle. Maybe signing up to therapy? Or counselling? Soemtimes a conversation is what we need.
All of these are suggestions that could help you start over in different ways, take what you need. 🩷
Are you Settling?
So many of us don’t realise how much we have settled. It’s hard to dream again when we don’t acknowledge that we may have written ourselves off from various things due to passivity, disappointment, negative words spoken over us and so much more. But it’s time to move forward and I’d encourage you to assess where you may have settled for less and why.
Dream Again — with God
Take it back to you younger days, what were those ideas you had before seeds of shame, ridicule etc were sown? We need to return to our design, return to the seeds we may have buried due to lack of vision and cultivate again with God. New beginnings are always possible and available, but are you ready?
As always I hope this met you where you are! Share your thoughts with me below
And share with a friend!
See you next week!
Love,
Rhieme
This was timely. Thank you for writing.🫶🏽
Always excited to get a notification from you!!🩷