LIFE-CHANGING TRANSFORMATION HAPPENED IN AN INSTANT

“Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.” Ezekiel 18:30-32 KJV

Transformation. . . a new heart and a new spirit.

That’s what I’ve written about in BEYOND VENGEANCE TO FORGIVENESS, the change I found possible through Jesus Christ. I couldn’t do it on my own. Jesus Christ, in response to my call for help, delivered an experience tantamount to pulling ‘me up from the bootstraps, flipping me head-over-heels, and shaking me so thoroughly as if to wrench my innards out! A transformation so unexpected, so unabashedly life-changing,’ to this day I can hardly believe it. But believe it I do. Jesus Christ transforms us from the inside-out. On the ‘flipside’ of the transformation, I was gifted with a ‘new heart, a new spirit’.

It was an immediate change for me. Jesus Christ pulled from me a poisonous mass of vile thoughts, bitter feelings, and vengeful ambitions. I felt pounds lighter–many pounds! My head was clear, my vision sharp and my outlook was upward. Gone was the tightness in my chest. My fists were unclenched. My mission in life was re-directed to compassion for others without even a second thought given to revenge. Praise Him!

With a new heart and a new spirit, I ventured forth in compassion. And there were some things I needed to correct in the life I led before my transformation. More in my next post. — FM