7/7: FULFILLMENT, FINISHING, & NEW BEGINNINGS

This time last year I was writing about the completion of one season and signs of a new “epoch.”

Epoch - a period of time in history or a person's life, typically one marked by notable events or particular characteristics. 

I realize now when that word was written, it was but a foretaste of the appointed time we have now entered. I believe we are in the midst of a finishing season and the birthing of many new beginnings, the revealing of refined blueprints.

There is a seven year cycle that the Lord is bringing to a close.

You will know the shift is here when you begin to see the manifestation and bursting forth of dreams and prophetic words that had been bottled up over the course of this time period from 2018 to now. The loose ends of the last season will begin to meet and usher in a fuller vision of the blueprints God was growing in you and building through your life. The unexpected crushing and refinement of 2024 was needed and necessary for what He is leading you into now. It was another level of strength training you didn’t know you needed.

There were many times during the course of last year where I said “I thought I already processed through this” and it was the Lord’s kindness to purge residue hidden from my purview.

And while the checkered flag is being waved over many processes and seasons of running, the Lord is also positioning us back at a starting line of this relay race of faith.

But this race is going to be run differently. Where you once were running alone, blind, weak, and empty on hope, you will now find hands behind you and ahead ready to share the load and receive the baton you were previously carrying on your own. Your vision is being restored so that you can increase your pace as you see farther ahead and gain confidence in your steps. God is not only going to finish what he started and give you the evidence of your faith (!), but He’s going to redeem what was stolen and revive the destiny that was aborted due to poor positioning and bondage.

This moment is both a finish line and a launching pad.

You may have already felt the wrestle and tension of this transition. I know that personally (maybe you can relate), I recently came to realize that what I thought was “the thing” I was born to build and had been pouring myself into wasn’t actually “the thing” but a stepping stone of process to prepare and position me. Before I made this realization, I was left frustrated and feeling constrained. Why was what felt so graced before now feel forced and unnatural?

This was a lesson in confusing assignment for aspiration.

I mistakenly had adopted a limiting mindset of assuming that the assignment before me was to be the vessel of the unique purpose and destiny God had for me. He graciously corrected my lenses and showed me that it was merely a temporary training ground to mature me into becoming the vessel fit to carry and birth something with entirely different DNA.

That’s why discerning the times and seasons is a mandatory tool of understanding for every disciple.

There comes a point of transition when you are awakened to the greater storyline of your life, and that demands greater responsibility.

We are at one of those transitional thresholds now, a reframing of the ages.

And this is, undeniably, an epoch of new beginnings and multiple births of never before seen blueprints. But, as our friends Semisonic so eloquently put it… Come on, let’s all sing it together!

“Closing time, every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”

Don’t be afraid of the endings ahead. Loosen your grip on the baton in your hand so that you’re ready for what’s next. Open your eyes. He’s waving the checkered flag.

Be faithful. Cross the finish line. For many this will simply look like proximity shifts, but for some, it will mean walking away from longstanding positions. This is a sign of fulfillment.

Now look around. You are standing on a launching pad that was drawn up and constructed for you before you were born, a window of time and place intertwining your DNA, the very purpose for which you were made.

“Closing time, time for you to go out to the places you will be from.”
—Closing Time, Semisonic