Necessary Endings Give New Life

A ravaging fire sweeps across the plain, burning anything and everything in its path. The charred remains and stench are left as a reminder of this painful event, yet new life will emerge before long. New life that is impossible without this necessary ending of fire.

Whether your ending comes from having your youngest or only child leave the nest for marriage or college. Losing a family member after fighting a long illness, or walking away from an abusive relationship, it can give hope of a new life. It is imperative not to get stuck in depression, or one of the other stages of grief.

It’s easy with varying lengths of indescribable pain to also get stuck asking God, “Why?“, when no answers are likely to come. Instead, we must move forward with hope and anticipation of what God has in store next.

Beauty Out of Ashes

Struggling, personally, after deciding to put our oldest pet down, reminded me of past events I considered necessary endings. With each one, God brought new life to ours, the same way volcanic ash brings forth the most vibrant green grass of all.

Ending No. 1

After teaching elementary special education for three and a half years, my vision loss prevented me from keeping up with the individualized preparations without special equipment, which wasn’t provided. Disability was my only option. Living alone, I felt all independence was taken. Worst, yet, my identity was taken. Being a special ed teacher was what I had strived for and achieved in my adulthood. Without it, I had nothing to talk about, nothing to do.

New Life:

Being granted an income without working, left me with ample time to discover who I was outside of my career, eventually replacing anger. It birthed a person who could pray and worship more, and tap into my unknown creativity. I learned to play my flute again and joined our church worship team, which would’ve never happened otherwise.

Ending No. 2

My husband’s combination of an entrepreneurial spirit and a love of auctions birthed an idea that came full-term, with the aid of three other business partners. A weekly ad would be printed and delivered over a several hundred-mile span. I chose the name and the logo. He did the selling, but I helped typeset and deliver papers. Before long, the excitement waned as complications arose, finally resulting in our selling our portion.

New Life:

I grieved this loss as heavily as when I had a miscarriage, from helping birth this idea into existence. When the pain left, I discovered, like my husband, I possessed the ability to be an entrepreneur. Partnering only with each other, we started our prepaid phone card business.

Ending No. 3

With hopes of owning ten businesses, we bought a print shop, of all things, while still expanding our phone card business, selling insurance, and pastoring a small church. Going color in our fifth year meant purchasing an expensive piece of equipment, one that was dropped upon delivery, breaking the main part.

The company wouldn’t replace the machine or the broken part, nor redo the financing. They agreed to repair it free daily. With no lemon law, and the fact not one order was ever completed without having to call their repairman, we faced another necessary ending.

New Life:

Feeling like failures once again, we weren’t able to brew in our sorrows too long for a unique distraction dropped in our lap. The church we pastored was located in Picher, OK, and the U.S. government announced the buying out of the entire town, fearing cave-ins from unsafe, abandoned mines. Much paperwork was required, as well as prayer for where, when, and how to move our church. Totally impossible to handle while owning a business.

Ending No. 4

Co-founding Word in Action Ministries with my husband, we fed free hot meals weeknights to anyone in need, as a response to the declining economy in 2009. Planned originally as our family’s outreach, volunteers quickly appeared, numbers grew, and we had more needs to respond to. God’s plans were bigger than ours, and our faith journey began. He opened the doors for provisions while we served truly living by faith.

The money and food resources dried up, leaving us with our hardest ending yet.

New Life:

One million meals were served by faith in a town of 4,000. That number was reached two months before the doors closed. Our personal life needed restoration and God began that journey. Extra time with fewer responsibilities opened doors for me to write about the miracles and touched lives I witnessed. I also preach, teach, and speak more.

Keep the Hope

Change your focus from the necessary ending to hope. As I go through my periods of grief or questioning God, I love to think about our Bible ancestors, and how different their lives would’ve been without a necessary ending.

• Moses – While tossed into dangerous waters as a baby, Moses was soon rescued, and lived a life of luxury and power in Pharoah’s house. His necessary ending came after killing a man. Yes, he did so in a valiant act of protecting his blood relations, but they turned on him. He ran.
  New Life: Moses learned to humble himself as a shepherd in a desert for 40 years. Could we call it a practice run?Definitely a training ground for God’s important calling.
• Joseph – Known as the dreamer, his brothers hated him from an early age when he bragged about towering over them from his dreams. Suffering from his own brothers trying to kill him would be his first necessary ending.
  New Life: This tragic ending put Joseph in the right place for the right position to rescue his relatives.
• Jesus – Born in a manger to live a perfect example of obedience and humility. His necessary ending came after much pain and suffering for you and me.
  New Life: His ending forgave us of our sins. Death is a prerequisite for rising again, giving eternal life.

Next time you experience a necessary ending in your life, remember God has a plan for you, and His ways are higher than ours.

Take heart, He’ll equip you. He’ll never leave nor forsake you either. Focus on new life instead of the ending. Rest in this hope today.

If this helped you in any way, please share it with your friends. Feel free to share your thoughts or experiences with us as well.

© 2019, Jena Fellers. All rights reserved.