By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer
New beginnings.
Technically, that is a redundant statement.
But the phrase says what we all understand – starting over.
Fresh start.
Second chance. Or third or fourth or fifth.
The idea is, as long as we are on this side of the grass, it’s never too late to get it right.
I don’t mean doing everything right, never making a mistake. I’m talking about doing life right with Jesus as our helper, defender, healer, and sovereign King. Anything short of this is a fail.
The theme of new beginnings is repeated in several of my novels, and I honestly believe readers like to be reminded that there is hope, not just for romance, but for the ultimate romance with Jesus as the lover of our souls.
In An Unexpected Redemption, Book 2 of the historical Front Range Brides series, a quote so inspired a reader that she wrote to tell me about it:
“If God can make everything new again,
in spite of the hard, painful parts, then
we should let Him.”
Sounds like a simple concept, right?
Simple perhaps, but not easy. There’s a difference.
In an earlier contemporary book, The Miracle Tree, Veteran and rancher Eli Hawthorn tells God,
“I really do want a fresh start. . . . But I need a hand here.”
We often don’t take God at his word. We think we have to earn his forgiveness, clean up our lives so we deserve his attention.
That’s cart-before-the-horse thinking. Or as I like to put it, effect-before-cause thinking.
We don’t deserve God’s love and mercy, that’s why when we accept it, it’s called grace.
Reach out for it. Tell Him you need Him. He’s waiting to give you a hand up.
If any man is in Me,
he is a new creation.
2 Corinthians 2:17
~
New again Share on X
Alone in the dark, Eli slid to the ground, back against the holding pen. The moonless night settled around him, heavy and pungent with the approaching storm. A bright flash lit the eastern hills in a strobe-like scene. It wouldn’t be long.
If any man is in Me, he is a new creation.
The voice spoke so clearly that he looked over his shoulder expecting—what?
Feeling foolish, he pushed his cap off and rubbed his head, recalling long cold nights in foreign mountains. A man’s mind could play tricks on him, make him think someone was out there, when in truth, there were many someones out there.
If any man is in Me, he is a new creation.
This time the words settled inside him, pulsating like some living thing.
And the voice. He hadn’t listened to that voice in a while.
The promise was more than a well-delivered sermon from a Sunday pulpit. It belonged to the God Eli had known before Laura moved away. Before the IED blew up the Humvee. Before Pop died.
“I really do want a fresh start.” Confession clawed its way up Eli’s throat. Saying it out loud made it real. Tangible. His stomach clenched, his hands fisted around nothing. He desperately wanted to slough off the old and start over.
“But I need a hand here.”
Lightning split the darkness, and phantom pain slashed the right side of his face. He curled in on himself, clutching his head. The left foot he no longer had shattered and throbbed with every life-spilling pump of his heart. Thunder tore through him with an agonizing cry.
And then it was over.
His breath came in short, ragged gasps, anticipating the pain. But it was gone. Instead, peace bloomed like a silent, surreal grenade.
He leaned his head back against the rails, breathing hard. The night lay still, the land quiet. Nothing stirred. Nothing but a flickering hope deep in his chest. ~The Miracle Tree
Inspirational Western Romance – where the hero is heroic.
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(c) 2026 Davalynn Spencer, all rights reserved.
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