Transformation Power

   Confession time...I was a goody-two shoes.   I never had any desire to smoke or drink or party.  I always did my best in school and the first time I ever skipped a class was my senior year when I cut band because I wasn't allowed to practice "Pomp and Circumstance" with the band (since I would be walking in my cap and gown). 
   But given all that, I still had the overwhelming experience of becoming a new creation in Jesus.  I was fresh.  I was clean.  I was pure.  I was loved.

    The transformation power of a new life in Jesus wasn't lost on me, but maybe it was a little under-understood.  That changed this week when I walked into my father-in-laws arms.

    This was a man I knew I would never be able to please.  He was a hard man with distinct opinions and his way was the right way, no matter what.  If things didn't go his way, he would kick you out of his life.  My husband, his oldest son, had been disowned more times than he could count, and just in our 17 years of marriage, I can count three times in which we went several years without speaking to him.  This most recent time has lasted four years.  We were told he didn't exist to us and we should leave him alone...don't call, don't visit, don't bother.
    So imagine my surprise when he calls out of the blue and asks us what happened to cause this lost relationship!  My husband explained it all, and his dad asked for forgiveness.  Forgiveness!  Without making any excuses, he simply admitted he'd done wrong and could we please start over.  My husband agreed, with caution and watchfulness.  They continued to speak at least weekly over the phone, and we made plans to visit this month.  When we got here, this man who was always too strong to be effected by emotion was crying his eyes out at how beautiful the kids are, how much it means that we came, how good it is to see us.  He asked my oldest daughter (who is just as opinionated as he is) to please forgive him.  He humbled himself so much that he asked for forgiveness from a child! 

    Now I was pretty floored by what I was seeing, but because of past history, I maintained a watchfulness of my own.  After all, I had given up on this man.  I had written off any hope of ever having a relationship with him.  But as I listened, I noticed how different he was.  Where he once spouted his opinions as gospel, he now shared what he was learning from the Gospel.  When he would once complain about how his church was doing things wrong, he was now telling everyone who would listen what his church was doing right.  When he used to push people away, he was now calling them close to pray over his weakness.  When anger used to rule his emotional scale I was now seeing love, empathy, and compassion.  This man, who at one time lost every friend he ever had, was now surrounded and embraced by men on a scale I never dreamed was possible.  And in the quiet moments, he embraces his family.  There are hugs almost more than there are words. 

   It was there in his arms, where I never dreamed I would ever be welcomed, that I realized the depth and power that Jesus has when it comes to changing a human heart.  There is no other explanation than the hand of GOD was moving in this man.

GOD have Your way!