My dear friend Megan has posted this photo on her blog and on instagram this week and it stirred something in me.

This photo has been haunting me.  I have been going back to it over and over again to read the words that God spoke. 

This morning I read it again and HAD to see how Eugene Peterson translated it in The Message.

Here it is...

This is what God says,
the God who builds a road right through the ocean,
who carves a path through pounding waves,
The God who summons horses and chariots and armies—
they lie down and then can't get up;
they're snuffed out like so many candles:
"Forget about what's happened;
don't keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new.
It's bursting out! Don't you see it?
There it is! I'm making a road through the desert,
rivers in the badlands.
Wild animals will say 'Thank you!'
—the coyotes and the buzzards—
Because I provided water in the desert,
rivers through the sun-baked earth,
Drinking water for the people I chose,
the people I made especially for myself,
a people custom-made to praise me." 
                                    Isaiah 43:16-21
                                    The Message




I can't help but be filled with great hope reading that passage!

FORGET ABOUT WHAT'S HAPPENED... BE ALERT, BE PRESENT... 
I AM ABOUT TO DO SOMETHING BRAND-NEW.

Amazing.

It is my hope and prayer that this passage stirs something in you the way that it has in me.