Transformed Changes and changing

“You can’t trust a God you don’t know.” Henry Blackaby

As I wait for news, which may have the impact of some significant circumstancial change in my life, I find myself in a place of needing to trust God…once again. In truth, I have to trust God for many things, most of which I take for granted, such as breathing…and heart beat. I need to trust Him for love, an appropriate level for each relationship I am engaged in, for strangers I meet, for the people that can get under my skin…I cannot manufacture love. Love is not programmable. I cannot exhort myself to love, to reach out, to be vulnerable. My weak, self-protecting, selfish heart must be transformed.

So…if I can’t trust a God I don’t know…maybe the real issue is knowing God. Maybe this is why He chooses to allow difficulty into our life. Not so that we would learn to trust Him…but rather that we would come to know Him…wherein trust would be a given.

Posted under Transformation

One of the biggest roadblocks along the pathway of transformation is pride.

It won’t always feel like a pride that displays itself as “arrogance”…it is usually much more subtle; it masquerades as humility.

Instead of vulnerably reaching out for help, we wall off and isolate ourselves, trying to keep people from seeing the darkness that lies deep within our struggle. We feel that we are the “only one” to have “this problem”…and fear that anyone and everyone would be repulsed by the real person that we are.

This self-aware fear is really pride masquerading as humility…a false humility…and t will keep us from experiencing transformation. It keeps us in bondage to a weak shell of a person, instead of experiencing fullness in life…and freedom.

“In repentance and rest is our salvation, in quietness and trust is our strength…” Isaiah 30:15

Repentance and rest (R & R!)for all that we cannot undo in our past…we are saved by grace.

Quietness and trust for our future…we can be strong in the Lord (Jesus) and the power of His might…our future is secure in Him.

I am not just speaking of eternity (though that is very cool indeed!), I am referring to your very next steps. No fear needs to be held…for He works in us to will and to act according to His purpose…as we take up this Posture of R & R.

Don’t let fear keep you from transformation. If you are struggling with addiction(s) or an overwhelming sense of failure…it does not have to be that way.

If there appears to be no other safe place to be vulnerable and reach out for help…then try me.

Risk…its better than a lifetime of bondage.

Posted under Transformation

“Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up…” Deuteronomy 11:18-19

This instruction is primarily to parents. As such, is it unreasonable to expect that God would approach instruction in the same way as our parent…our Father?

Transformation is a journey…one of the toughest issues to manage along the journey is our own expectation; of others…and of ourselves.

We can experience massive progress, but still be unsatisfied. Why is will not accept or extend grace? Why is it so hard for us to allow people to journey with God; to allow Him to work in them to will and to act according to His purpose…as they walk along the road with Him?

Why don’t we cut ourselves the same slack?

Fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…and walk along the road with Him…letting Him speak into our lives in each and every circumstance, processing what He says during each step…enjoying the gift of life for that which it is…”smelling the roses”…as we walk along the road.

Posted under Transformation

In many casual conversations I have asked people if “truth is subjective”. Sadly, many times the answer has been “of course”. The spirit of this seems to be one of tolerance for another person’s beliefs, as if to say, “I am ok with whatever you believe”…or maybe more accurately, “who are you to judge me for what I believe?!”

I don’t understand how this sort of philosophy makes any sense to people. Believing or not believing anything about anything…does not change anything!

We understand truth in physics and chemistry…it is what it is – my toe hurts when I kick steel…regardless of whether I believe steel to be soft – deal with it.

Truth is not subjective…but our understanding and knowledge can be less than truth.

God transforms. He does this through the “renewing of our minds”…and this is accomplished by the acquisition and application of TRUTH.

Posted under Transformation