A wonderful change has come over me. These were the words sung as I stood worshipping in church yesterday morning. Often we sing lyrics without deeply thinking about them. But as I sang the words, a movie of my many CHANGES since coming to know Christ began to play in my mind.
SELFISH
Hardened by childhood circumstances, I became a selfish person. Born out of my need for self-preservation, not knowing sometimes where I would sleep or when I would eat, I became territorial over MY things, MY space, and MY time. My selfishness was so severe that I even locked MY car and took MY keys with ME when I went out of town once leaving my husband without a car. Mmm. I am not proud of this at all. But I can be honest and share because my heart has been…
CHANGED
BITTER
Growing up, I had a relative who was mentally and physically abusive to me. When I was rescued from her torment, I harbored bitterness toward her. This woman not only inflicted pain on me, but on my younger sister and her own children as well. She left a trail of hurt in her wake. But before she passed away I was able to forgive her because I was…
CHANGED
PRIDEFUL
Just thinking about it makes me chuckle. I really did think I knew it all. Really. Hardheaded and a little rebellious, I was a piece of work. Until I had a head on collision with the King of kings and I was literally bought to my knees…
CHANGED
Scripture come to life right before my own eyes in my own life.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17
You and I are like pearls undergoing change. A foreign object or parasite gets lodged in the oyster’s soft tissue. To ease the irritant the oyster begins to secrete a smooth crystalline substance called nacre around the irritant. As long as the irritant is lodged in there, the oyster will secrete the nacre. The result is a beautiful, iridescent shimmering pearl. And unlike other gemstones, which are mined from the earth, the pearl is formed from a living substance.
The same can be said of our relationship with Christ. The Lord’s love for us is a living substance. Though we may have an irritant in our lives, like pride in my example, Jesus comes and wraps His loving arms around us, coating us in the TRUTH of His word, His nacre and out of that comes a new product, a changed heart.
Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 2 Corinthians 4:16
There’s no doubt about it. When you have a true encounter with Jesus, you change.
They came blind. They left seeing.
They came crippled. They left walking.
They came defiled. They left clean.
When you stand in the presence of that which is eternal, everlasting and unchanging, you can’t help but to be changed.
Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.
1 Corinthians 15:51
He changes our hearts. He takes out the heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh that beats in concert, in perfect time with His.
Thump thump…thump thump…His heart. Your heart. Unified beats enmeshed in love. And it is this unification, this joining of hearts that allows you to now love like Him, walk like Him and talk like Him.
The one who is seated on the throne says, “Behold I am making all things new”. This is active present tense. Not just something that may happen in the future, but He IS MAKING all things new and that includes you and I. For me this is good news because there are still many areas in which I am undergoing or still need transformation.
This good work He began in me and in you will continue until we see Him face to face.
I know I’ve been changed. The angels in heaven done signed my name.
Holler back at me. I want to hear about the wonderful ways He’s changed you.
If you have never received Jesus as your personal Lord I Savior, I am praying for you even now that this wonderful change will overtake you too. It’s just so sweet; I want you to be able to experience for yourself in a deep meaningful way what I’m talking about here.
As always, it is my prayer that you’ve been Inspired To Live Fully!
[…] itself by releasing a substance, which coats the irritant, and the result is a precious, valuable pearl. Likewise, in life we will encounter irritants, things that we feel are NOT good. But by the power […]
Beautifully written my friend….beautifully written! If you don’t mind me sharing… the lyrics to the song that causes me to reflect on the goodness of His mercy is “when I look back over my life….and see how your love has guided me.” My, my, my… I cant get past the first reflection(literally) before shouting to the heavens about what He has done!! ((SCREAM)) Right now at this very moment, I hear the song “I stand, I stand in Awe of you…to God in whom ALL praises due, I stand in Awe of You!
I really enjoyed this post. I can get so hard on myself, wanting to change more, so this really spoke home to me. I am being changed! Thank you Jesus. He is at work within me. Change takes time. Thank you so much for joining the Cheerleading Link Up. It is a pleasure to have you and your wisdom join us. Come back next week. I can’t wait to read what you have to say!
Kelly thank you for the opportunity to share and I look forward to joining you there again. I have been tremendously blessed since finding your site. I awe always in awe of how the Lord masterfully connects those within the body. May you continue to be richly blessed.