Perception is Everything

As I continue to struggle with my sense of "homelessness", I was drawn to a passage in Isaiah 48:18-19a.
"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?" I kept meditating on this verse for many days especially the question, do you not perceive it? I confess it is hard to perceive much these days but God's Spirit was relentless in churning this question around in my soul. It seemed to me that God was saying to let go of my former experience because He's about to do some new things in my life and I need to in essence "keep my eyes open" enough to see Him at work. Later on that day I was drawn to my backyard. Last summer we had a number of trees cut down. The rubble of felled trees that remained seemed to be without life. But as I looked I saw in the midst of the rubble green vegetation starting to grow. The verse from Isaiah 48 came to mind! What I perceived as lifeless and dead, God was in the process of doing a new thing. In fact the verses that I was drawn to meditate upon in their context speaks to God's promise to bring restoration to Israel. Thus, I believe God is seeking to encourage me that restoration is coming just like the vegetation that springs up, can I not perceive it?
Shalom,
Pastor Sheree