"Great God Almighty, He Changed me"...

              NOTHING HAPPENS
                         until the pain of
             REMAINING the SAME
      OUTWEIGHS the pain of  CHANGE.
                                   - Arthur Burt

I listen to the same two Christian songs on the way to work every single day. Yup, the same two. Over and over again. The songs "All the People Said, AMEN!" and "Waiting on the Transformation" are rock- your-heart-out songs that get me going in the right direction. 

They speak to me, just as if God himself was speaking to me. They challenge me, just as if God was in my car saying, "This is how I want you to live, Linda." They both talk about change, one of my favorite topics and least favorite topics simultaneously.

Pure and simple, God is calling me to open my heart in new ways and be transformed. Transformed even more than I have been in these 68 years of life I've been gifted.

The lyrics to the second song say something like this...

      He may have come to you when everything was
         fine or when your world was upside down and
         He hit you right between the eye, eye,eyes. 

Truthfully, my world was upside down when I gave my heart to God. As hard as the road has been at times since then, that decision to give Him my heart when I was in 9th grade at Malibu (a Young Life camp in Canada) has never, ever been one I have regretted.

Back then I had no idea how loving God would transform my life. It has been a "shake down to the core," as the song says so perfectly.

Letting God transform my life has not been easy, but it has been worth it.

Letting God is the key phrase here. I have to want that change and ask for that change. He won't break down my door making me change.

What I know for sure is that change and transformation are possible when God is part of the equation.

My life is a testimony to that truth!

I think we all long to be transformed, perhaps transformed like a butterfly. We carry around old ways of being that don't serve us and they certainly don't serve God!

They are familiar to us so they feel safe.

Yet I believe wholeheartedly that nothing happens until the pain of remaining the same outweighs the pain of change.

I also believe that I am called to change almost every single day. God wants to transform me and help me be His new creation. But He won't do it to me, I have to want to be transformed.

* I have to want to leave the old habits behind.
* I have to be willing to see how those old habits
   weigh me down and keep me from being who He
   wants me to be.

Bert has been a counselor for more than thirty years.
While he never talks about clients or identifies them in any way, Bert does from time to time share wisdom and life lessons he learns from working with his clients.

Recently Bert said, "To make real change, you have
 to be sick and tired of being sick and tired."

Amen to that!

We can hear ourselves complain and yet we feel stuck. We finally get to the place where we are sick and tired of making choices we shouldn't be making.

We are all really good at our bad habits, at least I sure am.

As Christmas comes and the new year approaches, I want to open up and let God transform me from the inside out. I want to be able to say with certainty, just as the song says...

        "Great God Almighty, He changed me...
         Great God Almighty He done change me."

I will take a leap of faith and trust and listen to His nudgings about where and how he wants to transform me! I am praying for His guidance as I embark on this journey of being transformed!

God Bless and may God hold all of us in the palm of His almighty hand!

Love,
Linda