“The journey between knowing sometimes intellectually and allowing it to transform our lives is 1,000 miles”
“Jesus is better than our most painful experience” Dr. Jason Esposito, Deeper Life Conference, Crown College, 2019.
This morning, Dr Esposito described his early education years, how inadequate he was as a student, how he was made fun of for his coke bottle glasses, his absent-alcoholic father, how people told him he’d never amount to anything.
He graduated at the bottom of his class and was barely accepted to college in academic probation. In his freshman year, he was invited to. Bible study by a friend, and he felt the Holy Spirit drawing him to go “all in” for Jesus.
He began to read Romans 12 every single day, and read it daily for a whole year. Over the course of the year, being very intentional to meditate on scripture, God began to transform the way he saw himself into the way God sees him… he began to see his scars not as marks that defined his failures, but as marks that showed him what God can do with him, not only in spite of who he is, but because of who he is.
He talked about the “grooves” we form in our brains with our thought patterns, both positive and negative… the deeper the grooves, the harder to change them… which is why addictions are so difficult to break.. He talked about it being essential to intentionally “Re-groove” our brain… by focusing on Gods word and allowing it to transform our spiritual mind.
Jesus wants to use us because of our hurts, and our painful experiences become our ministry when we allow God to transform us.
It occurs to me that Gods timing is always perfect.
As he took the stage this morning, Dr Esposito mentioned that God had switched up the message he had planned overnight. He said it was literally the first time that had happened to him in nearly 20 years of ministry. He told the tech crew to ignore the PowerPoint slide he had put together because God had a different message.
Having just lived one heck of a personal storm, I am still in the process of standing to my feet, dusting myself off and looking at my battle scars. Coincidentally, God has arranged for me to visit my son during their Deeper Life conference and God redirected the speakers message to one that speaks directly to me.
My God is truly amazing. He is so amazing that He is the ruler of the universe and cares so much about me that He would bring a message to my ears that I absolutely needed to hear.
I wanted to share it with you all while it was fresh. There may be others who are emerging from a cocoon after a direct hit, or perhaps still in the middle of the storm. I want you to know that God’s got you… even if you don’t see or feel it now… Allow God to transform your mind by intentional focus on His word.
I am truly blessed, my friends, and want you all to be blessed, too!
I heart you all!
SB
Journey-For-Life 