Renew: To Transform, Be Transformed by God’s MercySample

"To transform, we must be transformed."

Some things needed to change in my life last year. A friend shared with me how running had become a spiritual discipline for her, a way to pray and connect with God and do some inner work.

It inspired me to consider preparing to run a half-marathon again, it’d been many years, and though it seemed a daunting challenge, it also seemed doable. The self-discipline needed to prepare was the kind of change my life needed in spirit, mind and body.

A slow transformation unfolded in my life as the year went on, and the half-marathon turned into a full marathon training. Had my friends not invited me into that challenge, and then continued to support me and check in regularly, I don’t know that I would have accomplished it.

One of those friends shared with me the inspiring speech from Coach Kara Lawson: “We all wait in life for things to get easier. It will never get easier. What happens is you handle hard better ... So make yourself a person that handles hard well.” This turned into a prayerful meditation for when the last few miles of the longest runs were wearing me out: “You can do hard things.”

What are some of the hard things that you need to do in your life? What is the transformation you are being challenged or invited to consider? What’s keeping you from getting started?

What parts of your body are resisting the change? What part of your spirit or mind are doubting and procrastinating? Which friends are encouraging you with “You got this!” and which are holding you back or dragging you down?

Just as your different body parts need different kinds of care – nutrition, stretching, sleep, exercise, sunlight, play, etc, so your spirit and mind need different kinds of friendships and challenges.

When Christ places a call on you to be a living sacrifice in your community, he brings different kinds of friends around you to clarify and pursue that calling. He connects you to friends who you can be part of a community with you to fulfill that calling, come what may.

If you’re not sure where to get started, begin with re-connecting with friends sent to you by Christ Jesus – the One through whom we can see and receive the generous, overwhelming, mysterious mercy of God, which makes anything possible.