A while back, I was in a bleak, uncertain season, and it felt like certain things would never change. It was like I was doing a constant breaststroke through my days, only there was no oxygen when I came up for air and I was swimming in place. I felt stuck in the middle of my lane, the future—and any way forward—seemingly impossible to reach. 

One of the things that helps me when I’m in the middle of the bleh-ness is to go to my craft table and make something out of nothing with my hands. Nothing feeds my soul quite like flipping through magazines and scouring the pages for inspiration, fun typography, stunning photography, bright colors, and a good article or two. Between the vivid color swatches and aspirational photos, I tear out anything that sparks intrigue, joy, or wonder.

Once I gather my stockpile of glossy scraps, I move the pieces into different formations and arrangements, waiting for a new creation to emerge. Something about seeing torn, frayed, and usually wrinkled paper turn into an eye-catching, unexpected work of art gives me hope that God can do the same with every weary part of my life. 

In this particularly dreary season, I stumbled upon a page in The Magnolia Journal that stopped me dead in my tracks. It was a question Chip asked at the end of the publication. It was set in bold, scratchy type at the top of the page with space below for the reader (AKA dreary-old-me) to fill in their response. The question that jumped out at me was:

What brighter possibility are you choosing to believe for your life?

Before I realized what was happening, I was flipping through my Bible and scribbling down this answer on the subsequent lines.

“I believe Isaiah 43:19 over my life—I believe that God is doing a new thing. That He’s already written the story of all my days. That He knows every trial, emotion, and bit of beauty ahead. That He is good, He is good to me, and He is good at being God. That He will heal the old as He leads me to the new. I’m obsessed with renewal—I have to be.”

Without consciously thinking about it, I had written an anthem of hope over my life. A battle cry of sorts, a rally call for new life and an abundance of beauty, even though in that particular moment, I couldn’t see it with my own two eyes. But something inside of me—prompted by the Holy Spirit—dug deep and sunk my heart into God’s promise from Isaiah 43:19 (verse below) that God was actively, intentionally, and wondrously working things together. Good things. Things I couldn’t even dream up in my own sweet, dream-obsessed little mind.

Months and miles away from that season, I can tell you that the words I poured into the Magnolia Journal page were true. God was doing a new thing, and now I can see bits of those good things. And just as much as the specifics of what He ushered into a new, brighter season for me, I am proud of the hopeful words I jotted down on that magazine page. They shifted something in me, getting my eyes to focus on the renewal, the little joys, the fresh signs of life all around me. 

So today, I ask you—what brighter possibility are you choosing to believe for your life? What area do you need to speak some life, vision, and hope into? Where do you need to ask the Holy Spirit to show you how He’s doing a new thing? I encourage you to reflect on it and then write it down. Whether you’re in your own stagnant swimming lane or you’re just longing for a change, compiling a few words of hope, truth, and life for your soul is only going to help shift your focus to the one who can move mountains. Your days are too precious not to believe in anything less than a brighter possibility, and I pray your own manifesto of liveliness and living Wildly Well helps you rest in peace, if only just for a second. 

“Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” -Isaiah 43:19