Journal Entry ~ 08/29/17

If anyone is in Christ they are a new creation; old things are passing away; all things are becoming new.  2 Corinthians 5:17

Salvation happens in the moment we surrender our lives to Jesus and accept Him as our Savior, but sanctification, or becoming "new", is a slow process that happens over a lifetime of challenges living in this broken world. God can heal the damage that lingers from our pasts, God can break those patterns of sin and strongholds we aren't even aware of, and God can make us new. But it happens over time, and it happens when we're in the valleys. The reality is it's much more difficult for God to get a hold of our heart and reveal something to us when we're singing on the mountaintops - not to say that He can't, or that He won't, but God has done the greatest work in my heart in my life when I'm walking through difficult trials. In the trials, our hearts are most vulnerable to hear the promptings of the Spirit, we are most likely to turn to Him and surrender, we realize how desperately we need Him - it's in the trials when He's got our attention. Sadly, it's also when some walk away in anger, or they allow the trial to overwhelm them and push God away because they see His sovereignty for allowing the trial as cruel. That's never His intention. He wants to work all things for good. 

I counseled someone a couple of years ago who walked through breast cancer, and she was so bitter and angry that God "gave" her cancer. She didn't think it was fair that God kept dealing her a difficult hand and letting everybody else have it easy. Living with a diagnosis, I get it - I can hear the screaming in the back of my head at times that this isn't fair, this isn't what I want to deal with right now. None of us want to walk through trials like this, but I also know my God well enough to know He has something beautiful in this for me and for the people I love. I know how He has transformed my heart when I've surrendered my tears and my fears through some of my most difficult days, and I know the freedom I now have in so many areas of my life because of those very moments. It's not easy becoming "new", but it is glorious. 

Press on ~ you are loved 💗

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