Go Deeper—Breathe: Transforming
READY
On Tuesday I visited with a young woman whose body has been ravaged by cancer and the efforts of surgeons to rid her body of it. She was a mere 27 years young nursing her first born child when she discovered the lump in her breast. Now more than a year later the battle continues. After chemo and surgery she now has tiny new eyelashes and shadows for eyebrows. The changes to her appearance are obvious and typical to cancer patients. However the transformation of her heart and life are not physically apparent. But when you talk with her she boldly declares the change that happened to her heart and her life.
I sat with her parents in the lobby prior to her last surgery and heard her mother say how grateful she was for those changes in the heart of her daughter. What drew her back? Who loved her beyond reason and behavior? Her mother had dubbed her, her wild child while she was in school. She hadn’t witnessed the initial change but the result was quite evident to her and others and for that she gave thanks to God.
Amy's heart was turned to God in MOPS, Mothers-of-Preschoolers. The women in the group loved her and pointed her to a relationship with a God who loved her more and would accompany her through even the threat of cancer. As Amy explored that relationship with the Creator of Life itself she decided to trust Him with her heart and her life. She bought a Bible and began.
At the time she made her discovery she and her husband were separated. He was making some choices that were destructive to him and their marriage so they separated. However his heart turned toward his wife when cancer was discovered and he returned home and joined her in her battle, carrying the lion’s share of the care for their young son and housework plus a job.
Have you experienced a transformation in your heart toward your Creator? Do you trust Him with the outcome?
Take some time and write about the changes that you have experienced in your life in relationship with your attitude towards God. What was the turning point for you?
SET
I am deep in the study of Esther and loving it! One of the most impactful sessions was when Beth Moore talked about facing our fears of our worst case scenario. She reminded us that 90% of the things we worry about never happen. However the fear of even the remotest possibility can grip us with paralysis and render us hopeless and in despair.
She told about a journey God had taken her on, of what ifs. She said that He challenged her to think of the very worst thing that could happen to her. It was difficult and unpleasant but she let herself go there and imagined her husband in love with someone else. God said, “Then what?” As she progressed through her range of emotion and devastation at every level He asked her, “Then what?” Finally, she came to the end of herself and found that God was still there. It was very freeing to her. I took her advice and took a similar trip of worst case scenario and came to the same conclusion. Now, I know that imagining an event and circumstance is not the same as experiencing it but something about that exercise was very freeing for me! It reminded me that God’s grace is and will be sufficient for me in every circumstance! Wow! I challenge you to try it and see if it changes the way that you might anticipate a happenstance. I would love to hear about it at www.belindakendall.typepad.com.
Do you have the courage to go there? Why not now? You do it every day in your own mind on your own.
What is the worst thing that you can imagine happening? Go ahead. Go there. Fill in these blanks:
If ___________________________________________________________ then, what_____________?
As Care Pastor I am fully aware that some of you are living your worst case scenario right now! And you couldn’t have imagined this happening to you and you surviving it. But here you are.
Read II Corinthians 12:9 in a couple of different versions.
Ponder it.
Read it aloud.
Pray it.
What does it say to you personally?
Are you finding God’s grace sufficient?
In the introduction of the study of Esther, Beth Moore talks about the fact that there is an obvious absence of any direct reference to God in the entire book of Esther. Why study it then? Because it is included in the Bible and that is reason enough. But also might it be that we need to know how someone handles tough times and even life and death situations when God seems to be absent. I need that. We are always praying for the absence or riddance of bad times and things from our life. That is always my first prayer, too. We want the miracle! We want it our way—in healing, in hope, in restored relationship. Could it be that the real miracle, the real transformation happens in living when no miracle comes? Then Sweet One, the miracle comes in the transformation in us—when we discover that His grace truly is enough! And then, there is nothing to be afraid of, nothing that can separate us from hope and Him!
What about you? Are you in a place in life where God seems to have forgotten you? He hasn’t seen to it to answer your prayers your way? Is it possible that He is more concerned about what happens within you then with the circumstance?
Read Jeremiah 33:3
Go ahead and ask God what is going on in your life.
Ask Him where He is and what He is doing.
Ask Him for wisdom and discernment as to what to do.
Seek wise counsel from trusted friends.
Keep asking Him.
Read and Pray Psalm 138:8 (NLT)
The Lord will work out his plans for my life—for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever.
Don’t abandon me, for you made me.
GO
What would it look like if I really believed that God’s grace is enough for me? Go ahead, try it on. Just pretend to believe it and act like it today.
