Forget the former things; do not dwell in the past. See I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up, do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.

Isaiah 43:18-19

Since last Wednesday, October 29th, “Moving Forward” by Hezekiah Walker and Love Fellowship has been in my heart, in my mouth, and on my mind from the moment I wake up until the moment I go to sleep. I knew this song was speaking to the greatness that was about to be birthed before our eyes in the coming week, so I latched onto it, sung it as often as I could and kept it in my heart. The song is about refusing to look back and remembering that God makes all things new for his purpose. For me, it affirms my relationship with God, because He has made me a new creation. But on the larger scale I knew the message was going to be so significant for Tuesday, November 4th.

This morning, when I opened my eyes to this new day after spending the night celebrating Barack Obama’s win with people from all walks of life, the reality of last night’s results hit me. That Barack Hussein Obama, a rookie senator who came up from obscurity and against all odds was elected the next president of the United States was all an incredible act of God. I knew this to be true last night when at about 11:00 I saw the words “Barack Obama is elected president” flash on the flat screen televisions of the opulent night club I was celebrating the victory in. Even in that moment, amongst all those people who were shouting “Yes We Can, Yes We Did!” my soul was shouting “God is Good! God is Faithful! Thank You God!” This revelation gripped me and froze me in my bed this morning. I was paralyzed by the fact that God had done a new thing right before my eyes. It was as if it were the first time I was clearly seeing the hand of God at work. I was held captive by this thought for the first 30 minutes of my morning and moved from dancing and praising God for his goodness to lying prostrate on my bedroom floor in tears.

You see, while it is an awesome blessing for me as a black woman to see a black man in 2008 get elected as the first black president, I am even more overwhelmed at seeing God’s hand move in this election. I feel as though Ephesians 3:20 was fulfilled: “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” Receiving Barack Obama as the president-elect was a blessing beyond anything I could imagine not only because I believe–in time–he will return us back to normalcy and trust him as a man who started as a community organizer for the people, but because he gives people  a hope for the future. I am also excited to not only have a president who looks like me but one whom I can look at and see God’s workmanship and purpose in. He has single-handedly shown that anything is possible and we need not operate with limitations ever again.

Furthermore, I am overwhelmed by God’s apparent grace at work. His grace kept us to see this day. God’s grace kept us though we were slain, sold into slavery, murdered, hosed down, hung and drowned to death. God’s grace kept our parents to see the day that the hard work they did in fighting for the right to vote and the years they spent fighting for equality actually manifested itself into the greatest moment in history.

There is yet work to be done, but in this moment we must celebrate the win, the victory in Jesus that was fully shown last night in the person of our president-elect Barack Obama. And to all who will, remember to give thanks to God and pray for the continual strengthening and protection of president-elect Barack Obama.

Nicole Symmonds is an Assistant Editor at Beliefnet.com