See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? Isaiah 43:19 NIV

About a month ago I started visiting a place I did not think I would feel comfortable going to. A new ministry was beginning at my church, organized by a couple who wanted to reach out to seniors at a nursing home. They were going to conduct a bible study there twice a month, and they asked me to sing a song before the bible study began. I had a concern about that.

The nursing home was the first place my mother lived. It was also the place where she broke her leg, but not much was done about it, until she experienced pain and her leg began to swell. She needed surgery to repair her femur, and I moved her from that home. About two months after she passed, I was being asked to go there again.

I didn’t want to be a part of that ministry. It was not because of the couple that was leading the ministry; it was because of the memories I knew I would surface once I entered the room where we used to meet. I didn’t want to deal with that.

Nevertheless, I decided to participate. The first time of driving to the home gave me much trepidation, and was very much a challenge, even getting in the car to drive there was difficult. Once I entered the home, the memories started pouring out of my brain. It was like a locked area that held the memories was opened, flooding the rest of me with my mother’s face, her smile, watching her crunch on Popeye’s chicken I brought for her, and on and on.

The next time I went, it felt like a drudgery. I didn’t want to see the people who came to the ministry, I just didn’t want to be there.

Then today happened.

I looked forward to going; this was a new experience on this day. I made sure I had the song prepared, that I had my camera equipment so I could take pictures, and it was a pleasure to assist the seniors with finding the verses in their bibles. I was surprised how I was feeling. Before it felt like the time there was going in slow motion; today the time went quickly. I liked being with them. And that was when I realized something: there was a new thing happening.

It is not that God didn’t know what I was going through, yet he blessed me with taking away the angst of being in a familiar place, honoring that I took a chance to be a part of ministry. I surmise that when you are doing something for God (despite the mental roadblocks), he takes that into consideration and blesses you.

So, the new thing sprang up in me, which makes me happy. My thought for you is to try the new, regardless of how you feel about it. If it is for God, all will be well, and he will make sure you perceive the release the process.