This is the second blog in my two-part series, I am not the same. This week God has been revealing to me just how much I have been refined since leaving for the World Race In case you missed it, you can read my tesitmony, as I wrote it during month 2, in yesterday's part-one blog.
Galatians 5:19-25
When you follow the desires of your sinful nature: the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. There is no law against these things! Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit leading in every part of our lives.
The past several months have been a constant fight to walk through the fire, to nail the passions and desires of my sinful nature to His cross and lay my life down at His feet. My whole life, not just the easy parts. And let me tell you, following the Spirit's leading in my life is a heck of lot more satisfying.
One of my biggest fears before the Race was what if I come home at the end of all this and I haven't changed? I know now that is not even a possibility. I am not the same. I cannot go back to the way things were. I am forever changed. God is working on my heart in so many ways, growing me more and more everyday into the woman of God He is calling me to be. I hope it will be obvious how much I have changed. I want to radiate the light of Christ everywhere I go. I want to share the Gospel, and what God has done in my life, with people I meet, with people I already know, and probably hardest yet, the people I'm closest to.
I know that I am bolder, I am kinder, I am more grateful, I am more patient and more loving than I was seven months ago. I pray bigger, bolder prayers. I know that I am loved by my Father no matter what I do, but more than ever I WANT to do the right thing because I want to be pleasing in His sight. I want to be so busy loving God that sin can't have any part of me. I want the brilliant life that God is committed to bringing me into. I want His plans for my life to become my own.
It took several months for me to see much change. There for awhile I still thought I'd possibly get to the end of this and then just go back to my life the way I lived before. I'd go home tanner, thinner, with new friends and cute photos and lots of good memories and at least 11 new countries checked off my list. But that is NOT good enough. This is not just some trip I took. This is changing my life completely. I have learned what it means to truly live. Christ is all I have to live for. And He is enough.
1 Peter 1:13-16
So think clearly and exercise self-control…so you must live as God's obedient children. Don't slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn't know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the scriptures say, "You must be holy because I am holy."
I DO know better now. Now I am trying to be holy in everything I do. Keyword: trying. It's certainly not a cake walk, but thank goodness my Father has new mercies for me everyday. I still have four months left on this race. Four months for God to continue to show me more of who He is and more of who He created me to be.
