Staring Over VS Starting Again
Some time back, I watched an Instagram reel of Sarah Jakes Roberts speaking about the difference between starting over and starting again. That analogy has stayed with me ever
since that I did my own research.
Starting again is a reminder of God’s mercy, what it entails and just how far it can stretch.
“I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten.” Joel 2:25
God restores, He doesn’t reset.
Have you found yourself longing for everything to be erased, wishing for a clean slate, a chance to start over as if nothing ever happened? I used to feel that way in my naïve teenage years. But life doesn’t work like that, and neither does the Giver of life work like that. God doesn’t erase our stories.
Sometimes, we need to look back for things to make sense. He is a generational God who keeps His promises, and because of that, the past is necessary. Restoration requires history and God’s promises require continuity.
One of my favourite biblical examples is David’s desire to build the temple for God. Although David was not the one to build it, God promised that his descendant and son, Solomon, would. And so did Solomon build the temple. Yet despite his incredible wisdom and astonishing workmanship, he later disobeyed God through compromise and intermarriage.
But even in God’s anger, God did not break His promise to David in keeping him and fulfilling that a king would always come from his lineage.
For promises to be kept, mercy to be extended, and prophecy to be fulfilled, the story cannot be deleted. Instead, it is redeemed for a greater purpose.
God rarely wastes history. Neither should we.
The weight of “starting over” often comes with pretending the past never happened and this approach carries the risk of repetition, falling into the same patterns without awareness.
“If the Creator of all is able to take what became the fall of man and rebuild it back to order, then we must be careful not to resist rebuilding ourselves.” – Apostle Isi
The reluctance to rebuild is rooted in pride. It can sound like self-protection, but underneath, it is often self-rejection and writing yourself off while you still have breath in your lungs to make a difference and live out your destiny.
Our canal minds can label mercy as shame. We convince ourselves that God is doing us a favour by restoring us and because we missed it the first time, we think we deserve the crumbs. However, shame does not reflect God’s image. The sooner we shed that “skepsel” shame veil, the sooner we step fully into the restoration He offers.
So, as we start again, we are not shrinking ourselves because we’ve had to try again.
“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” Isa 43v19 (NIV)
A new thing, built on obedience.
God promises that the new will not look like the old. Though it carries memory, it is still entirely new, just as His mercies are new every morning.
Starting again says:
– I’ve learned
– I’ve been refined
– I’ve been preserved
– We are returning with wisdom
– We are moving forward with deeper obedience and clarity
We understand the cost of starting again, but we refuse to let the weight of purpose overwhelm us.
In this new season, take a moment to look back, not to dwell, but to trace. What went wrong? Was it fear? Disobedience? Patterns you are yet to confront. Or perhaps the absence of destiny helpers assigned to help you carry the vision? Whatever it is, let this renewed time be more impactful.
Because since you know better, you can do better.
“But the people who know their God will be strong and will carry out great exploits.” Dan 11v32 (NKJV)
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