“To start fresh, to start over, to start anything, you have to know where you are.”

A thought by Charles R. Swindall, from his book, Start Where You Are. Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

And there may be many areas in our lives where we want a fresh start.

Charles says, “To get somewhere else, it’s necessary to know where you’re standing right now.

“That’s true in a department store or in a big church, on a freeway or on a college campus . . . or in life, for that matter. Seldom does anybody ‘just happen’ to end up on a right road. The process of redirecting our lives is often painful, slow, and even confusing.

“Occasionally, it seems unbearable.”

He goes on, “Consider Jonah, one of the most prejudiced, bigoted, openly rebellious, and spiritually insensitive prophets in Scripture. Other prophets ran to the Lord; he ran from Him. Others declared the promises of God with fervor and zeal. Not Jonah. He was about as motivated as a six-hundredpound grizzly in mid-January.

“Somewhere down the line, the prophet got his inner directions cross-wired. He wound up, of all places, in a ship on the Mediterranean Sea bound for a place named Tarshish. That was due west. God had told him Nineveh. That was due east. (That’s like flying from Los Angeles to Berlin by way of Honolulu.) But Jonah never got to Tarshish, as you may remember. Through a traumatic chain of events, Jonah began to get his head together in the digestive tract of a gigantic fish.”

He then says, “What a place to start! Sloshing around in the seaweed and juices of the monster’s stomach, fishing for a match to find his way out, Jonah took a long, honest look at his short, dishonest life. He yelled for mercy. He recited psalms. He promised the Lord that he would keep his vow and get back on target. Only one creature on earth felt sicker than Jonah—the fish, in whose belly Jonah bellowed. Up came the prophet, who hit the road running—toward Nineveh.”

Charles later says, “If God can take a disobedient prophet, turn him around, and set him on fire spiritually, He can do the same with you. He is a Specialist at making something useful and beautiful out of something broken and confused.

“Where are you, friend? Start there. Openly and freely declare your need to the One who cares deeply. Don’t hide a thing. Show God all of those locust bites. He’s ready to heal every one . . . if you’re ready to run toward that Nineveh called tomorrow.”

So, do you know where you are?  And do you want a fresh start? 

Yes, yes!