3 Keys to Unlocking Transformation

Do you want to remain the same? I know I don't. There are so many areas of my life I want to make changes. So how come I don't see results when I try? Do you ever feel that way? Like you're making an effort to change, to grow, but not seeing many results?

Have you ever struggled with not feeling good enough? Or beautiful enough? Or perfect enough? You're not alone. Me too. 

I've heard people/articles say: "Embrace who you are! Don't be ashamed of not being as skinny or beautiful as the magazines say you should be! Be comfortable in your own skin!" And while that may be true, it's not the whole picture. How many of us know the enemy lies to us by putting some bits of truth in there? He tells us we are ugly, unworthy, not thin enough, not good enough. He reminds us we are not as beautiful as that woman at the gym or as accomplished as that guy at the office or as perfect as that worship leader from church. 

He reminds us of things we've heard from our past to enforce what we believe about our present to steal our hope for the future.

How can we break out of that mindset? Out of those lies? 

1. Stop comparing yourself. While some of those things might be partially true, there is always going to be someone else who is better at this or that, or looks a different way than us; but we are each unique. Ask the Lord how He sees you. We need to ask Him to help us find our identity in Him alone. Being secure as His daughter or son. and THEN we can ask Him to identify areas where we are weak, where we can grow. Because the truth is, WE ARE NOT PERFECT! we all have some area we can work on. We just need to stop identifying ourselves as our weaknesses and instead declare who we are in Christ. And through Christ's strength we can grow in our areas of weakness to better ourselves.

2. NEWS FLASH- Transformation takes............................ wait for it.............................................. TIME!.................. And some patience, perseverance, dedication, commitment.How many of you know that going to the gym ONCE does not make you lose 50 pounds? If it does, I've been doing it all wrong. Have you ever seen those commercials with before and after photos? There is always a length of time it took for the person to get from one picture to the other. But what about if you took a picture every day? The first picture will look very similar to the second one. You might not even notice a difference. But when you lay out all those daily pictures, you can see the tiny changes that led to the total transformation.

Guess what? Reading the Bible once is not going to solve all your problems. Maybe Christians everywhere will hate me for saying this but its true. It takes TIME. Sometimes you might read it, and it doesn't really sink in. Other times you know it should help, but you can't get that frustrating situation out of your mind. Sometimes it clicks, and it washes over you, other times its a struggle to get through the passage, and the end of it you can't even remember what you just read. I'm just being REAL! 


3. Develop the HABIT of reading the Word. Even when you don't feel like it, do it. You might not see the change, but when you look back, you can see all that God has done in your life. Some days might be really good! Others you don't feel anything. Don't see anything. But God is doing something.

We need to be faithful to develop the HABIT, and He is faithful to bring the TRANSFORMATION. It takes patience, and trusting that He IS working even when we can't see it. Don't give up, keep fighting.