An Awakening from Brokenness, Endurance for the Journey, Featured
First Step of the Transformation
And I will ask the Father,
and He will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you.
He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth…
But you know Him, because He lives with you now
and later will be in you.
JOHN 14:16-17 (NLT)
And so, I prayed every morning, before my feet hit the ground, that God would lead me into all truth. I prayed that I would not be afraid of the truth about myself as I know how painful it can be to see all of yourself – the good, the bad and the ugly. I prayed that He would be gentle with me as He revealed the truth to me. I closed my prayer with Psalm 51 …
Create in me a clean heart, O God.
Renew a loyal spirit within me.
Do not banish me from your presence,
and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation.
PSALM 51:10-12 (NLT)
As I went through my day, I no longer trusted my own judgement, my first impression and my old patterns. I started Pausing and Praying before I Responded (PPR) to questions and the triggers that would easily upset me. It was amazing to me how God changed my perspective. God allowed me to see beyond their words and actions so I could see directly into their hearts – which totally changed my response.
I then saw a major change – for the good – in how my family responded to me. Oh, at first, Dave thought I was ignoring his questions which frustrated him because I did not respond immediately. I explained to him that I was not disrespecting him by being quiet, I was actually respecting him by silently as he was speaking to me so that I could really understand him – to my surprise his response changed immediately. Not only was Dave beginning see the transformation that was taking place within my heart, I was actually experiencing it for myself.
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world,
but let God transform you into a new person
by changing the way that you think.
Then you will learn to know God’s will for you …
ROMANS 12:2 (NLT)
On the journey with you,
Jan Dravecky
