Being Transformed
by Gemma Gardner
It’s truly amazing how the Lord can take a life that is utterly broken and twisted and make it into something beautiful for Him. And when we turn to Him in faith and give our lives to Him, the transformation work begins.
The Lord really brought this home to me in an experience I had recently. My husband Dean had given me some orange knitting yarn to knit myself a jumper. I was eager to complete it and made good progress. The final bit was doing the neckband and sewing up the jumper. I sewed up the side seams of the sleeves and body, and completed the neckband.
It was only when I came to sew the sleeves into the armholes that I realised something was badly wrong. The jumper was all twisted and the sleeves wouldn’t fit in it. I was really distressed because I couldn’t work out what was wrong. But Dean saw it. I had picked up the stitches on the neckband for the back and sleeves back to front.
I knew I wasn’t able to undo the work I had done without wrecking the jumper. Then Dean suggested he cut the wrong pieces and sew them back together the right way round. It was risky because the stitches could fall apart when cut.
But Dean sewed two rows of stitches on each part and then cut between them, thus making them secure so they wouldn’t come apart. He then sewed the edges and joined the jumper on to the neckband and I was able to sew the sleeves in. The jumper is fine now and looks good. No-one knows what happened to it, unless I tell them!
Being transformed is a process. Sometimes it’s really painful, as the Lord has to cut out things that are wrong in our lives, like sinful attitudes or habits. Sometimes it’s wrong thinking about ourselves, or others, or even God Himself.
All this takes time, but the Lord is patient and gentle and looks for our permission and co-operation. I had to let Dean cut the jumper. I couldn’t correct what was wrong myself, so I had to trust him.
Jesus wants us to trust Him with our lives, all our hurts and pain. He wants to make us into His likeness, and what’s more, He’s committed to finishing the work He started in us. Isn’t that good news! Nothing is impossible with Him. He will present us faultless before His throne with great joy one day.
Gemma Gardner lives in Norfolk with her husband, Dean, who until recently worked at Ellel Grange. They are both part of the Associate Ministry team which Gemma joined after completing the Modular school. Gemma has experienced the Lord`s healing and restoration over many years and longs to see Him healing other broken people. Gemma loves listening to music, cooking, knitting and crochet as well as outdoor exercise. She enjoys playing guitar and singing worship songs.
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