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I remember when the word "conform" was the dirtiest word I knew. Sure, I have to stretch my brain a bit these days, but I can still recall that rebellious young girl (yeah, that would be me) who was dead-set on never conforming to anything! Everything, from the way I wore my hair (long, straight, and down to my waist in true hippie fashion), to the clothes I wore (bell-bottom pants and tie-dye T-shirts), was a statement that said, "I will not conform!" The crazy thing is, having tried so hard not to conform, I had conformed to being a non-conformist! Make any sense? Anyhow, living on salads with artichoke hearts every day, while trying to maintain a groovy lifestyle in Santa Cruz, California had finally taken it's toll on me. Greatly humbled, I called mom back home in Tennessee and asked for money, albeit with a promise to repay every cent. To my utter surprise, she replied, "Not unless you're willing to come home and change your thinking!"
I use groundwork to "change" how my horse thinks. When my horse changes his thinking, he no longer
acts and reacts the same as the herd. He is now set-apart.
Just like country music's Dixie Chicks in search of wide-open spaces, I wasn't ready to make-nice just yet, but I was ready to concede to a few changes. Staring at my half-empty salad bowl, I thought about mom's crispy fried chicken and home-made biscuits dripping with honey. "Okay, mom, I'm coming home, and I promise, things will change." What I intended as nothing more than a grandiose statement to buy me time turned out to be a prophetic utterance! Within a month, I had returned home, got a job, and even enrolled in college. Indeed, life was changing quickly, but the real change was still ahead. With my gypsy spirit still intact, and looking for adventure, I decided to move to Atlanta to pursue a career in modeling. God had other plans. Long story made really, really short, a friend invited me to church. It wasn't quite the adventure I was looking for in the big city, but I agreed to go. As it turned out, it was a date with providence, and I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.
The more my horse learns to use the thinking
side of his brain, the more his life is transformed.
And the more his life is transformed, the more he
is willing to allow me to direct his footsteps.
Miraculously, my spirit was now "born-again", and my life was eternally changed. And yet, I knew there was more change that was necessary if I was going to find my destiny in Christ. And so it was that I began to search for answers - answers that could only be found in God's Word. One day, I came across Romans 12: 2 (see above scripture at top of newsletter). Again and again, I read the words in an attempt to absorb it's real meaning. At last, I understood. When I gave my heart and life to Christ, He did for me what I could not do for myself - He forgave me of my sins and created in me a new spirit. At that moment, I became "born-again" and a new creation in Christ. But what about my mind? Some of my old patterns of thinking kept returning, and along with it, the temptations those thoughts brought. How could it be that having been changed, a part of me remained the same? And then the truth hit me like a splash of ice-cold water on a hot July day. My mind and my thoughts were my responsibility!
"We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."
(2 Corinthians 10: 5, NIV)
When my horse allows me to direct his footsteps,
not only do I safely guide him in the exact
direction he should go, but I go with him
every step of the way!
Although my spirit had been miraculously born-again, it was my responsibility to "renew my mind". If I was willing to renew my mind, I could transform my life. But how was such a thing possible? It was only possible if I was willing to read and study God's Word. At first it wasn't easy, but the more I read and studied, the clearer my thinking became. Soon, I began to take captive those unwanted thoughts that had tried to derail me from my destiny in Christ. And how did I do that? Instead of thinking what I wanted to think, I made a choice to think on God's Word. And instead of saying what I wanted to say, I made the choice to say what God said, instead. This brings me to an important question. Is renewing our mind, and taking our thoughts captive, a once and done thing? Absolutely not! It's something we must do each and every day. Why? While salvation takes place in a heart-beat, transformation is an on-going process. We are forever growing and changing in order to become more like Christ! For me, the year 1979 will always be a special year. That was the year I gave my life to Christ, and it was also the year He called me into full-time ministry. The transformation had begun, and nothing would ever be the same. I had found God's good, pleasing, and perfect will.
"And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit."
(2 Corinthians 3: 18, ESV)
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