Over the last couple of weeks my team at Westwinds has shared numerous stories of how God is changing their hearts. Our stories are important both for ourselves and the community we are part of. With our stories others are can be encouraged, challenged, directed and even corrected.
Hear’s what I’m hearing:
ONE: The other week I really didn’t want to be here (at church with the kids). I had a grumpy attitude. But when I was M&M studio the kids were singing this song (note: one I didn’t like!) and this little girl next to me began to sing. As I listened to her sing with love and conviction, God melted my heart. I knew I was where I needed to be.
TWO: Lately I’ve been evaluating everything I do and how I spend my time. Does this draw me closer to God? Is it a neutral experience? Does it draw me away from God? I feel like God is asking me to be more intentional about how I live everyday. Did that conversation, did that book, did that gathering, did that movie draw me towards God or did I feel distanced from him.
THREE: The other day I made all sorts of changes on an organizational chart to help this older volunteer feel good about what we were doing. The way I had the chart made more sense to me, but it wasn’t “the way it was done” before. So I decided that instead of arguing with this lady that I would willingly accommodate her “anal retentive need-ness” (oops) and give her what she wanted. I didn’t give in to her out of anger or frustration, I did what I did to help her.
FOUR: A friend shared that when her new grandbaby was born, the other grandma kinda pushed her way into the hospital room and monopolized the parent’s and newborn’s attention. I was angry and hurt but for the sake of the relationship with my kids I remained quiet. It was really hard but it was the right thing to do.
FIVE: Something happened a couple of months ago that really hurt me. It wasn’t intentional but it still hurt. Later I found out the information I had shared was not passed on to other key people, hence no one from church knew about my brother’s death. . . Through a lot of prayers and tears my spouse and I have decided to make sure this doesn’t happen to another family. We are going to stand in the gap and help the church establish some type of process to help other families who have a death in the family.
SIX: Talked to a woman the other day. She mentioned that even though she has 2 small kids, she’s been trying to spend some quiet time, time alone with God to listen for His voice. She’s noticing a difference in her relationship with God.
Each of these stories is about transformation. When you give up something you really would rather hang onto – your time, your chart, your desires – you “die” to yourself and become more like Jesus. Transformation costs you something. Just like in the child's book The Velveteen Robbit, it hurts to become real. Transformation happens when we let go of something to receive a “new, better” something.
How are you growing in your relationship with Jesus?
How are you being transformed? How is the Spirit talking to you? How is your heart?
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