2210 The Inside Shift

Girl, let me tell you something – God is working in you! You live with you every day, so you’re likely too close to the situation to see it, but I’m telling you, God has been doing a work in you. Deep within you, there’s been a shift. And this shift has been changing you from the inside.

Deep within, in your heart and your mind, your innermost being has been under the influence of the Holy Spirit. He’s been cleaning house in there! Some old things have been thrown out. Some new things have been brought in.

And here’s the really wild thing – you didn’t even have to do that yourself. GOD HAS BEEN DOING THAT WORK IN YOU.

We often dismiss ourselves from believing we could ever become someone new and different because we think it would all be up to us – under the power of our own will and strength. But honey, it’s just NOT. That’s a God work!

You don’t change you. God changes you. You partner with him in the process. He leads, you follow. He throws things out of your life, you let go. He brings new things into your life, you lean in. And through this process of letting go and leaning in, you find God is literally changing you. He’s making you this new person with a totally new inner being that looks nothing like the old you.

My friend Catherine is one of my favorite examples of this. She is absolutely unashamed of what God brought her out of and saved her from. She will drop her testimony into a normal conversation with zero concern of what anyone else may think. She lives so unapologetically FREE! Free from her past. Free from addiction. Free from performance. Free from fear of rejection or judgment.

She’s let go of so much and she’s leaned in day after day. Her life today looks nothing like it used to. And let me tell you something – If God can change her life, he can change yours.

If He can take a life devastated by addiction, a family deeply wounded, a woman who hit rock bottom in rehab, a soul desperately searching for answers in every other place—and turn it into a woman who walks in healing, restoration, wholeness, and joy—there is no telling what He can do in your life!

Today, Catherine’s family is so healed it’s ridiculous. She’s so filled with the power of God that you can’t help but see Him through her. The addictions of her past were left at the cross, along with the desire to ever return to them.

Catherine is now my traveling retreat assistant. You know why? She makes me better! The Spirit in her stirs up the Spirit in me. She makes me more bold and courageous. Her continual prayer today is, “God, break my heart for what breaks yours.” AND HE IS. She simply will never be the same. And because I’m close to her, I won’t be the same either.

Let me tell you exactly what happened for her, because it’s in the process of happening for you too! Philippians 2:13, “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”

Don’t make it any fussier than it needs to be. It really is that simple. GOD IS WORKING IN YOU. God is changing your desires. God is filling you with the power to do the things that please him.

This is how your life changes.

This is how your goals shift.

This is how what used to make you happy simply doesn’t make you happy anymore.

This is how you suddenly don’t want what you used to want.

This is how you begin to crave things you never used to crave.

This is how you find yourself saying no to things you once couldn’t imagine saying no to—and yes to things you once would have been afraid to do.

This is how you become different.

Not because you finally figured out how to change yourself. Because God is working in you.

Your role in this is letting go and leaning in. Whatever you’ve been too afraid to let go of is the very thing God is asking you to trust him with. Let him have it, then lean in to see what he has for you instead. Lean in by spending time with him. Lean in by seeking him. Lean in by daring to walk in obedience, even for just today.

Recently, there have been a few things God asked me to trust him enough to let go of. I hate to admit how long I reasoned with God and justified my excuses to keep holding on. And you know how God handled that – he was patient with me. He let me continue walking my own way while he went to work on me from the inside. He didn’t strike me with lightening, he just shifted my heart.

Eventually, I decided to lean in. And do you know what I found as I leaned in to him with open hands? He had shifted my desires. He had given me the power to turn away and not go back.

I didn’t do that – GOD DID. That was God’s work. I just finally partnered with him in the process.

Now, my desire has changed and the very thing I fought so hard to hold on to is no longer even wanted in my life. That’s healing!

My friends, God not only heals bodies of disease – He heals addiction – He heals hurts – He heals broken hearts. He heals relationships. He heals the places in us that have been wounded by rejection, betrayal, disappointment, failure, and fear.

And sometimes His healing looks different than we expected. Sometimes healing isn’t God changing the situation. Sometimes it’s God changing you in the middle of the situation.

He changes what you want. He changes what you tolerate. He changes what you’re willing to chase. He changes what you think you need in order to be happy. He changes what has power over you.

And sometimes you don’t even realize how much He’s changed you until you find yourself standing in a situation that used to have a grip on you—and suddenly