Welcome to the Final Post in Faith In Every Day's Transformation Series! Where other bloggers shared their transformations: Mind, Body and Soul in Christ! It has been such an inspiration and encouragement to hear these ladies stories!
If this is your first time reading this series make sure you check out the other transformation posts:
First of all I want to express my many many thanks for the amazing women who opened their hearts and selves to share their truly inspirational transformation stories.
Krista, Amanda, Dawn, Tesha and Ruth:
It has been such a blessing to hear your stories. I know I have learned so much from each one of you and was able to connect with how God changed your lives. A true testament to God our wonderful creator, though our overall stories are different and unique, he uses similar story lines and lessons to teach us how to Glorify Him. I have been praying for you, and I continue to pray that God would use you and your blogs to touch the lives of many others in Gods name.
In one of my very first blog posts Luke 9:23 Part 1 - Deny Himself I went into detail the very first time I died to myself and said yes to God. Though calling myself a Christian all of my life, I never said yes to God and never knew how to listen to his voice inside of me. I really didn't have any reason to because I was following the world rhetoric of "Do what feels right." I had no reason to be accountable for my actions or decisions because I was the only one affected. However, after my little boy was born my entire world view changed. I no longer could do anything I wanted because I had a little boy who was depending on me and from that point forward I had to start thinking of someone other than myself.
So when I got the call for my dream job I could decide to sacrifice my own child's chance to be with his father for the first year and do what I wanted, or I could sacrifice my opportunity for the good of our family - - for the good of my son. I can't say it was an easy choice, quite frankly it was the hardest thing I had to do letting my dream job slip through my fingertips but it was the right choice. It was the first day in my life I died to self and said yes to God.
From that moment on God transformed me in the most powerful of ways.
It was June 23rd, 2013 I had been convicted months earlier to start reading my Bible, New Testament to Old because I never actually read my Bible the whole way through. Imagine calling yourself a Christian for your entire life yet not actually knowing what the Bible said -- I promise you I couldn't defend my faith at all.
I had read until Romans and it was there that I realized that I was a hypocrite and didn't know the Lord my God at all. I had to come face to face with my theory that I could do whatever I wanted and just ask for forgiveness. Whoever made that lie up is leading so many astray. You can't ask for forgiveness if you KNOW you are going to do the same thing next week, heck I would plan to o the same thing next week. I was indeed nominal.
The passage that convicted my soul:
6 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
6 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
Romans 6:1-11
My recommitment to Christ and God was right then and there as I read that passage. I had no idea what the Bible even said until that point and I was humbled. I realize how broken I was and how much I needed help changing my heart. Though I committed my life back to Christ I had some bad habits to break and over time God would begin to teach me various lessons that I never learned.
God is a very patient God, he is patient and loving as we slowly learn how to change our hearts. And God likes to take things one baby step at a time especially with a woman like me who is incredibly impulsive. My transformation, as I thought it would be, has not happened over night. It has been incredible soft and gradual but not without hardships and pain to learn them.
God has changed my heart to desire his will, to open my eyes to the lies told around me, he has helped me figure out who I truly am and how he created me - my love of sewing, reading, cooking, desire to learn french -- all things I never really tapped into before because I was too busy following what others were doing. And he helped me love myself for who I am.
In April of 2014, I felt the call to change the way that I dress to glorify the Lord, read about it here in Why I Wear Skirts Daily, I had said yes to God for just under a year and here was the big test. Would I, a jeans and t-shirt only girl, say yes to Gods call to be modest and feminine and wear more skirts/dresses? It took a lot of research and some creativity but I nervously obeyed.
For me, wearing skirts and dresses completely changed my outlook on myself, I have learned through it to be comfortable in my own skin. The displeased thoughts of my body and constant need to work out to "look good" in the eyes of others was challenged and changed to wanting to be as healthy as I could so I can do Gods work and to please him, not others.
Though he has certainly taught me so much, my journey isn't over and I am far from perfect. But God continues to patiently teach me the things I need to learn, a step at a time. Currently, I am learning the valuable lessons of self control with my mouth and emotions. I have always let my emotions lead and now God is teaching me how to take control of them. This has been the hardest lesson thus far but I know when all is said and done it will be worth it because I will be Glorifying God with my mind, body and soul.
When you become a Christian, you don't transform over night but God does work in you, little by little, step by step.
Now over two years since I declined that job, I look back and don't even recognize the person I used to be, the person without God seems so far from me now. Which is what happens when you deny yourself and you say yes to God, God will take that tiny crack in the door and swing it right open in the best way possible. He will use you for his good and transform you to become a completely different person in mind, body and soul than you can ever imagine.
“Look at the nations and watch—
and be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days
that you would not believe,
even if you were told."
Habakkuk 1:5
The Book of Romans will do a doozy on you. My prayer for us is that we have the faith and the courage to obey when God shows us our errors and moves us to repentance. Thanks so much for your post!
ReplyDeleteIt was great to read all the stories. Great post:)
ReplyDeletePutting other people's needs ahead of our own can be very hard! But I believe it's what we're on this planet to do. :)
ReplyDeleteSo wonderful to see how God works in each person's life! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteIt is so wonderful to remember that our Heavenly Father is patient with us!
ReplyDeleteIt is fascinating to look at how our paradigm changes as we learn new things. I always said I would have a career, it was ingrained in me, but life has a funny way of showing us different things and sends us on paths never before considered. It is beautiful to hear how your journey has altered, for the better, your life. Having kids and a closer look at your spiritual life has a way of changing everything. Peace! :)
ReplyDeleteThis is something I have been struggling with. Often I find myself making excuses for why I can't do things such as I don't have time or I'm not good enough.
ReplyDelete