A transformed woman will embrace the transforming God!" Jeremiah 31:22 The Message
I love this verse! I want to be careful not to take scripture and use it out of context. The woman in this verse is referring to the nation of Israel, but through Christ we have become children of God and I believe that we women can be transformed by our transforming God! Scripture tells us so. What does it look like on the outside to be changed from the inside? Peace that surpasses all understanding. It is a beauty that transcends far past the skin. It happens when we allow God to use the difficulties in our life to bring new life to our soul! To be transformed more into the likeness of Christ begins in the renewing of our mind. (Romans 12:2) The way in which we choose to view life’s circumstances. That is just what my friend did in her marriage. She went from desperate housewife to dedicated child of God. This is her story of how she became a transformed woman.
“Early in my married life, I received quite a jolt when my husband announced he did not believe in God. I decided that I needed to do what I could to change him. I often tried to guilt or force him into attending church. This back fired, he only became belligerent and suddenly became extremely busy every weekend. I felt I was firmly in the right and my husband was in the wrong. I began to pray diligently that he would admit he was wrong and begin to believe like me. God just wouldn’t have let me marry the “wrong guy”. We soon drifted apart. I was praying and he wasn’t changing. I was certain that he was not being a good husband or father. Why was my prayer not being answered? After all, I was on God’s side! I was right and my husband was wrong! My life was out of control and I had to take some action. I came across Stormie Omaritan’s ‘The Power of a Praying Wife’. I thought I had finally found a formula to pray my husband into changing his ways. I would assault God morning until night with numerous and lengthy petitions to change my husband’s self serving ways. But as I dove into this book, I became very angry. It seemed to be saying that I needed to change. What? Are you kidding me? It said that unless I was right with God, He would not act upon my prayers. It began to dawn on me that possibly I wasn’t being the person God wanted me to be. I took the focus off my marriage and focused on what God wanted me to do. After many painful months, I began to see that I had been critical, selfish, cold and unloving toward my husband and what’s worse, I had been claiming to be on God’s side doing it! Gradually, I let control slip through my fingers and into God’s hands. All these years I had not been wanting my husband to be right with his maker, I had been wanting him to be right with...... me!
My husband is still a professed agnostic, but he is a different man. Because I surrendered to my God, because I let go of my stubborn will, because I changed the only person I have the power to change, me. God changed my life. By submitting my thoughts and my will to His will and His authority allows Him to freely work in my life and my family."
