Humpty Dumpty, Ascension and Assurance

Ascension 2020 (May 24, 2020)
Humpty Dumpty has a fall and cannot be put back together again.  In the same way, our lives — the way we remember them — cannot be put back together.  We are slowly realizing that life will not be restored to what it was.
The early disciples also wanted things restored, namely, the Kingdom of Isreal (Acts 1:6-8).  Jesus lets them know that this is not the plan, but that they will instead be witnesses to his death and resurrection to the ends of the earth.  Their response to being told their hopes and plans would not happen…that there was a new normal, out of their control and without Jesus on earth…  Worship with joy!  (Luke 24:51-53).
What causes the disciples to embrace this new normal?  What can help us move forward?  This ascension, we hear the assurances —  the promises of Christ — that allowed the disciples then and allow us now to forward into the new normal, one where God, as always, is with us.