A New Beginning

Isaiah 43:19

READING A GREETING SERIES

See, I am doing a new thing.

Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

A NEW

BEGINNING Celebrating Your New Opportunity

On the occasion of ...............................................................................................................................

From ...............................................................................................................................

Date ...............................................................................................................................

A New Beginning: Celebrating Your New Opportunity Copyright Š 1998, 2014 by Ben Alex A co-production from Scandinavia Publishing House, Drejervej 15, 3. DK-2400 Copenhagen NV, Denmark info@scanpublishing.dk Scripture quotations are taken from The New International Bible.

Used by permission Printed in China ISBN 9788771324761

Also in this series: Comfort in Sorrow: Your Way to Recovery Carpe Diem: Today Is Your Day Closer Than a Sister: The Gift of Friendship

A NEW

BEGINNING Celebrating Your New Opportunity

By Ben Alex

Unfamiliar paths “I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them.�

Life

-ISAIAH 42:16

is a journey. It hardly ever travels sharp corners or makes sudden turns; it mostly follows round and gentle curves and learns its lessons in the long, straight stretches between boring landscapes. Sometimes, however, we arrive at a stop sign, a crossroads, or a rest stop, and at those times we must double check the map and decide which way to turn.

Dante, in his Divine Comedy, observed that somewhere, in the middle of his life journey, he found himself in a dark forest where the straight and familiar paths were lost. The experience filled the poet with fear for he knew he would have to chart the unknown and wrestle with new daunting questions that would challenge all he stood for and held as true.

This is precisely what crisis means - a new stretch on a rocky road leading to God-knows-where. Signs of danger and warning surround us. Yet we know we must plunge into the unknown and make a new way in order to stretch and grow.

This little book is not meant to be a map of safety. At its best, it is a travel guide written by people who have been there before you. Keep it in your pocket or purse. As you wrestle with your questions, pull it out and ponder their insights and advice. This will encourage you on your journey.

-4-

When it comes to major decisions in life, no one can tell you what to do.

You will have to find the answer for yourself. But others may help you stay sober and focused, staving off fear and confusion.

Remember, however unfamiliar and untrodden the path ahead may seem, there’s Someone who has promised to guide you in your decision­making.

He knows the territory well, for He traveled it when He left His heaven and “descended into the lower regions of the world” (Ephesians 4:9). The Bible goes on to say that because He descended, He also ascended on high to give gifts to men.

Keep going. There are surprises ahead. As Meister Eckhardt said seven hundred years ago, “There is no stopping place in life no matter how far you have come. So be at all times ready for the gifts of God - and always for new ones.”

“Faith is the force of life.”

-Leo Tolstoy

-5-

Dreaming dreams

DREAMS ARE REAL.

-Jewish Proverb

Faith is the evidence of new birth, not the cause of it.

-John Piper

HITCH YOUR WAGON TO A STAR.

-Emerson

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.

-C.S. Lewis -6-

Dreaming dreams SURELY THE LORD IS IN THIS place, AND I WAS NOT AWARE OF IT.

-Genesis 28:16

A DREAM BROUGHT ME INTO THE SANCTUARY OF GOD.

-Judah Halevi

WE ARE SUCH STUFF AS DREAMS ARE MADE ON.

-Shakespeare

-7-

Dreaming dreams YOUR YOUNG MEN WILL SEE VISIONS. YOUR OLD MEN WILL DREAM DREAMS.

-Acts 2:17 NOBODY GROWS OLD BY merely LIVING A NUMBER OF YEARS. PEOPLE GROW OLD ONLY BY DESERTING THEIR IDEALS. YEARS MAY WRINKLE THE SKIN. BUT TO GIVE UP INTEREST WRINKLES THE SOUL.

-General Douglas MacArthur Nothing will enter your life that God does not either decree or allow. And nothing will ever enter your life that, if you are willing to trust in him, he cannot work out for your good.

-Chip Ingram -9-

Dreaming dreams IT IS TOO LATE! AH, NOTHING IS TOO LATE. TILL THE TIRED HEART SHALL CEASE TO PALPITATE. CATO LEARNED GREEK AT EIGHTY; SOPHOCLES WROTE his grand Oedipus, and SIMONIDES BORE OFF THE PRIZE OF VERSE FROM HIS COMPEERS WHEN EACH HAD NUMBERED MORE THAN FOUR-SCORE EARS...

Chaucer, at woodstock with the nightengales, at SIXTY WROTE THE CANTERBURY TALES: GOETHE AT Weimar, toiling to the last, COMPLETED FAUST WHEN EIGHTY YEARS WERE PAST. THESE ARE INDEED exceptions; BUT THEY SHOW HOW FAR THE GULF-STREAM OF OUR YOUTH MAY FLOW INTO THE ARCTIC REGIONS OF OUR LIVES...

FOR AGE IS OPPORTUNITY NO LESS THAN YOUTH itself, though in another dress, AND AS THE EVENING TWILIGHT FADES AWAY THE SKY IS FILLED WITH stars, invisible BY DAY.

-Longfellow -10-

Dreaming dreams ALL WORK THAT IS WORTH ANYTHING IS DONE IN FAITH.

-Albert Schweitzer

BY FAITH Abraham, when God tested him, OFFERED ISAAC AS A SACRIFICE.

-Hebrews 11:17 THE ONLY LIMIT TO OUR REALIZATION OF TOMORROW WILL BE OUR DOUBTS TODAY.

-Franklin D. Roosevelt

-11-

Dreaming dreams IF YOU DO NOT HOPE, YOU WILL NOT FIND WHAT IS BEYOND YOUR HOPES.

-St.Clement of Alexandria

HOPE deferred MAKES THE HEART SICK.

-Proverbs 13:12

Those who do not hope cannot wait; but if we hope for what we do not yet see, then we with patience wait for it.

-Charles Spurgeon

THE HEART HAS ARGUMENTS WITH WHICH THE UNDERSTANDING IS NOT AQUAINTED.

-Emerson

LEARN FROM YESTERDAY. LIVE FOR TODAY. HOPE FOR TOMORROW.

-Anonymous -12-

Dreaming dreams

-13-

Dreaming dreams

FINITE TO FAIL, BUT INFINITE TO VENTURE.

-Emily Dickenson

Every problem is a character-building opportunity, and the more difficult it is, the greater the potential for building spiritual muscle and moral fiber.

-Rick Warren

CHEER UP! THE WORST IS YET TO COME!

-Philander Johnson -14-

Dreaming dreams NEVER UNDERTAKE ANYTHING FOR WHICH YOU WOULDN’T HAVE THE COURAGE TO ASK THE BLESSINGS OF HEAVEN.

-Georg C.Lichtenberg COURAGE IS RESISTANCE TO FEAR, THE MASTERY OF FEAR - NOT ABSENCE OF FEAR.

-Mark Twain COURAGE IS DOING WHAT YOU’RE AFRAID TO DO. THERE CAN BE NO COURAGE UNLESS YOU’RE scared.

-Edward Rickenbacker ONLY THOSE ARE FIT TO LIVE WHO ARE NOT AFRAID TO DIE.

-General Douglas MacArthur -15-

Dreaming dreams WE PREFER THE TINY POND OF THE KNOWN AND FAMILIAR TO THE GREAT OCEANS OF NEW POSSIBILITY A STEP OR TWO AWAY.

-Alan Jones

...We must learn to keep God in everything we do, and whatever the job or place, keep on with him, letting nothing stand in our way.

-Meister Eckhart

WE ARE ALWAYS getting ready to live but never living.

-Emerson

LIFE IS THAT INCURABLE DISEASE FROM WHICH ALL HAVE THUS FAR DIED.

-M.G.Saphir

ONLY SO MUCH DO I KNOW AS I HAVE LIVED.

-Emerson -16-

Dreaming dreams

DO NOT PRAY FOR AN EASY LIFE. PRAY TO BE A STRONGER MAN.

-Phillip Brooks STRENGTHEN ME BY SYMPATHIZING WITH MY strength, not MY WEAKNESS.

-Amos Bronson Alcott BE STRONG IN THE LORD AND IN HIS MIGHTY POWER.

-Ephesians 6:10 -17-

Dreaming dreams

-18-

Dreaming dreams Forgive and give as if it were your last opportunity. Love like there’s no tomorrow, and if tomorrow comes, love again.

-Max Lucado

WE MUST TAKE THE CURRENT WHEN IT SERVES, OR LOSE OUR VENTURES.

-Shakespeare

AN OPEN DOOR may tempt A SAINT.

-Author Unknown

OPPORTUNITIES ARE SELDOM LABELED.

-John A.Shedd

A GOOD OPPORTUNITY IS SELDOM PRESENTED AND IS EASILY LOST.

-Publilius Syrius

ALL EXPERIENCE IS AN ARCH TO BUILD UPON.

-Henry Adams -19-

Dreaming dreams SELF-TRUST IS THE FIRST SECRET OF SUCCESS.

-Emerson

IN ALL THINGS GOD WORKS FOR THE GOOD OF THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.

-Romans 8:28

EXPECT GREAT THINGS FROM God; attempt great things for God.

-William Carey

MAN WAS CREATED SO THAT HE MIGHT LIFT UP THE HEAVENS.

-Jewish Proverb

PLAN FOR THIS WORLD AS IF YOU WERE TO LIVE FOREVER; PLAN FOR THE HEREAFTER AS IF YOU WERE TO DIE TOMORROW.

-Ibin Gabriel -20-

Dreaming dreams THOSE WHO LIVE TO THE FUTURE MUST ALWAYS APPEAR SELFISH TO THOSE WHO LIVE TO THE PRESENT.

-Emerson Live thoughtfully today, and you won’t have to live regretfully tomorrow.

-Woodrow Kroll

-21-

Dreaming dreams DEFER NOT TILL TOMORROW WHAT YOU CAN DO TODAY.

-Yiddish Proverb

IN THE TIME OF YOUR life, LIVE -SO THAT IN THAT WONDROUS TIME YOU SHALL NOT ADD TO THE MISERY AND SORROW OF THE WORLD, BUT SHALL SMILE TO THE INFINITE DELIGHT AND MYSTERY OF IT.

-William Saroyan

When you become consumed by God’s call on your life, everything will take on new meaning and significance. You will begin to see every facet of your life - including your pain - as a means through which God can work to bring others to Himself.

-Charles Stanley -22-

Dreaming dreams

THERE IS AN ETERNITY BEHIND AND AN ETERNITY BEFORE. AND THIS LITTLE SPECK IN THE center, however long, IS COMPARATIVELY BUT A MINUTE.

-John Brown

ALL OUR SEEMING CONTRADICTIONS ARISE FROM THE EQUATION BETWEEN THE TODAY THAT IS MERELY A BRIDGE TO TOMORROW, AND THE TODAY THAT IS A SPRINGBOARD TO ETERNITY.

-Franz Rosenzweig -24-

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