There is a rhythm woven into life that many of us resist until we can no longer avoid it:
release and renewal, letting go and becoming.
We often think of release as an ending — something to grieve, fear, or endure. When something is taken from us, or when we are asked to lay something down, the instinct is to brace ourselves for loss. Yet in God’s hands, release is never wasted. It is not an erasure. It is a threshold.
Release is the doorway through which renewal enters.
Why Release Matters
When we hold tightly to what has already served its season — familiar patterns, broken relationships, outdated identities, or even our fear of the unknown — we unintentionally crowd the space where renewal might take root.
Hands that remain clenched cannot receive.
Letting go is not passive resignation. It is an active decision to trust that life continues to move, even when we cannot yet see what comes next. Release acknowledges that growth requires space — and that not everything we carry is meant to travel with us forever.
Isaiah 43:19 speaks directly to this tension:
“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”
Renewal, by its nature, asks for openness. It cannot arrive where nothing is released.
The Discomfort of Letting Go
Few people experience release as joyful in the moment. More often, it feels like uncertainty, grief, or standing between what was and what has not yet taken shape. This discomfort can be unsettling, especially when we are accustomed to clarity and control.
But nature offers a quieter wisdom.
Trees do not cling to autumn leaves out of fear of winter. They release — not because they are failing, but because life is moving beneath the surface. The surrender is not a sign of loss; it is preparation for renewal that cannot yet be seen.
So it is with the soul.
Discomfort does not mean something has gone wrong. It often means a transition is underway.
Renewal Is God’s Promise
Renewal, in God’s economy, is not about survival alone. It is about restoration with intention.
When something is released, what follows is not emptiness, but possibility. Space is created for clarity, healing, softened strength, and vision that is no longer constrained by what once was.
God does not ask us to release without care or purpose. What we loosen our grip on is not discarded — it is held. Renewal comes not from striving for what’s next, but from trusting that God is present in the clearing as much as in the harvest.
Living in the Joy of New Beginnings
The joy of new beginnings is often misunderstood as excitement or certainty. In truth, it is quieter than that. It is the confidence that life continues to unfold under God’s care, even when the path ahead is still forming.
There is grace in the rhythm itself:
from release to renewal
from endings to beginnings
from letting go to rising again
New beginnings do not require erasing the past. They ask only that we allow what we’ve lived to inform what comes next, without demanding that it define us forever.
When we release, we are not stepping into nothingness.
We are stepping into alignment.
A Final Thought
Letting go is not a failure of faith. It is faith in motion.
What feels like an ending is often the clearing where something new begins to take shape. And while the hands may feel empty for a time, they are also open — ready to receive what could not arrive while they were still full.
This reflection is part of the Letting Go hub, where release, transition, and renewal are explored with honesty and care.
Rita Lynn Berry, EdS, LCMHC, is a licensed clinical mental health counselor and the founder of NewVision Counseling and Consulting Services, PLLC. She is also the creator of the Journey to Me™ program and Mend n Muse Media™, where she shares tools and reflections that support healing, resilience, and self-love.