Transformation

What’s your burden?

What is it that weighs you down today?

What do you hope to gain by clinging to it?

At what point will you stop and consider this:

What Jesus did for you on the Cross is bigger and greater than anything that’s been done to you! (Christine Caine,"Adamant for the Lost",Lisa Bevere podcast)

I can look back over my life, see the damage done and the time lost by allowing what I had endured and what someone said or did to me determine my perspective.

We have a choice, we always have a choice.

I can also look back over my life, and see the moments I chose to lean into my Father God rather than sink into the burden.

There is power in the name of Jesus! There is grace abounding for us, new mercy every day, and His unconditional love and faithfulness…..but we must choose it. He will not force himself upon us.

Have you ever found yourself caught in this scenario? God speaks a word into you for someone who is hurting, you pray over it and seek scripture to couple with it, practically packaging it up like a wonderful gift for them, and as you walk away from the conversation you hope and pray that person will follow through. You hope and pray you may actually have a chance to witness transformation in that person. We take time to pray, to speak truth and love, encourage, mentor, and extend accountability-only to find out some time later, nothing has changed. Maybe years have passed, and it is apparent they are still stuck, licking their wounds, dwelling on what was done to them at some point in their past. It appears that what was given, wasn’t fully received. Perhaps, it didn’t really sink in. Or maybe it did for a short time, but for whatever reason, it didn’t bring about the change we had hoped and prayed for in that person for the long term.

When God gives us an opportunity to speak His truth, love and light into someone who is struggling-we need to obey His prompting and deliver it as He intends. But what we often miss in this process, is that the transformation in that person’s life may not be something we will ever witness. God didn’t speak into us in order for us to bring about the change, God spoke into us to deliver His message so that He can bring about the change! How many times have we come away from a painful situation, to the point we tell Him, "God, I have said and done all that I know to do, all that You’ve given me to say and do. What more can I do?" I can tell you what His response to me has been:

"Trust Me. Release the burden you carry right now and just Trust Me."

This is the moment I have actually found myself physically turning around to capture completely what God intends for me. My current visual coping mechanism is to picture a door, and as I am praying about something that’s burdening me, I choose to release the burden by closing the door and walking away. He does not intend for us to be burdened by anything or anyone, to the point we actually despair, when we aren’t able to witness with our human senses an absolutely repentant and transformed heart. Why is this so hard to grasp? Because, we aren’t fully trusting our God with it. It is His job, and His alone, to bring about the change in others. He is God, we are not. He is enough, absolutely enough.

I have been saying all along that this year my focus is "Release" and, mercy, is it ever true! I am finding often, and in every single one of my relationships, the necessity to release and fully trust my God with everything. There is great joy and necessity in establishing a boundary in our lives. It is what helps me to be more consistently seated in His presence, in deliberate stillness and rest, in the vitality of discipleship, and in sweet fellowship with those whom I cherish most in my life. The boundary is set by you, and you alone. It is not the same for every person. It is not to be compared or justified by anyone, because it is set between you and God. Everything else is secondary, because the flow between us and the Father is the highest priority. When we find ourselves fully seated and the boundary in place, we are better able to release and trust the Father as He intends. We are able to function within the perspective of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. This is a process I go through daily, it is a cycle, to find my boundary and keep it. I’m only human, and unfortunately, there are days I fail at this miserably.

Thank goodness God gets me and He never moves. He doesn’t judge me. He never fails me. He is always there for me. I am so thankful to know He is for me and is with me always.