Dear God, THANK YOU for giving us the ability to CHANGE.
I've met a lot of hard-headed and/or hard-hearted people in my day. I was abused as a child by one (he was both). Interestingly, I had children with two more (one was both, the other was one) - who also happened to have mothers who were the same way (one was both, the other was one). And...one gave birth to me (she's one - but has come a LONG way, definitely changed in many ways and is still changing).
I've always had the kind of heart and belief that ANYONE could change. It wasn't until after knowing my second son's biological father and grandmother that my blanket belief in anyone's ability to change became weakened, just as my open and easy ability to trust people also became weakened.
As my children have grown up, I've noticed some things about them that appear to be consistently hard-wired into their personalities. Some good, and some not that great. I'm concerned for all three of my children, always, but there is a trait in one of them that scares me the most.
As a mother, you want to believe - always, always believe - the absolute best about your children. You want to think that no matter what is happening right now, things will get better. The thing is, it doesn't feel right to unconditionally believe that your children can and will change for the better if you don't also believe it about the rest of the world. And so, for the last several years, my weakened belief in the ability for ANYONE to change has been strong once again.
The only thing stopping ANYONE from changing is the person in need of the change. There are, unfortunately, a LOT of people on this earth who believe that they don't require change - that they're "good people with good hearts." Others are too proud to admit to themselves that they need to change, and others don't have the confidence in their ability to change, so they take on this mentality that they were "born that way, that's how they've always been, people have to love them or leave them alone if they can't accept them as they are," etc.
NEWS FLASH: Just because you've "always been" something doesn't mean you always HAVE TO BE that something...I know and believe this with all of my heart and soul!
The absolute truth that I know is this: GOD is the root of all significant change. Some of us struggle with issues that we really do feel are how we were born to be. Something that deep-rooted into us can only be extracted by the power of God and God alone. A lot of us are not able to get what we need from God, to experience the full impact of His presence in our lives, because of habitual sin, unforgiveness, etc. God will need to be able to forgive us in order to hear us, to work with us. But we have to be cognizant of the fact that change is required, and what's more, we have to WANT IT! Change requires a close, personal relationship with God that cannot be accomplished when our sins are in the way, causing a separation.
It is my prayer for my family, friends, acquaintances and even myself that we all take inventory of the sins in our lives, and really consider whether or not we are willing to let them go before making any further requests of God.
In other words, if we repent from and release sin first, we can receive and achieve TRUE change later...
Until next time,
XOXOXO - Jessika
No comments:
Post a Comment