God's transformation in my life.

Today, I stand transformed by God. I used to be a shy, anxious, frightened, lost, awkward, and sickeningly nice person. I was a young man without a backbone. I had eyes, but no vision. And I doubted everything from life's meaning to my own salvation. I was desperate for love and acceptance, because I did not know how to accept that unconditional love that God bestows on us everyday.

I am confident, not in myself, but in God working through me. I'm confident because he created me (and all of us), with unique abilities and gifts so that we might share his love and truth in a specific and God-inspired way. I'm created by God's design and that gives me unbelievable confidence.

I am content, not because I am rich, which I'm not, or because I have great friends, which I do, but because I know that my worth comes not from people or possessions, but from God. Not only did he create me (and you), but he died for me ( and you). I'm worth that much. You're worth that much.

I know I'm loved, not because people say they love me, or need me, or think that I am great, but because God's love is unconditional and everlasting. No matter how much I screw up and fall flat on my face (which I do often, sometimes literally), I know God still loves me. His word says so.

I do not doubt my salvation, because like the great hymn says "I need no other argument,
I need no other plea, it is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me. My heart is leaning on the Word, The written Word of God, salvation by my Savior's name, salvation through His blood. I do not have a righteousness of my own, but a righteousness that is a gift of God and is by faith.

God has taught me so much through his Word and through many tough life lessons. Through times in the desert, seasons of despair, pain and hardship, hours of joy, moments of truth, and the faithful prayer of Christians, God has truly transformed my life. And the great thing about it all: the transformation is not complete. Like Paul says in Philippians 3: "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.