I like to read and share devotionals from the book Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young. The devotionals are rooted in scripture and presented in the perspective of Jesus speaking to you. Today’s message reminds us how a closeness with God allows Him to transform us into who He has designed us to be. Sometimes the transformation is a shock to others and even to ourselves as we step into new areas. For me, its been an increasing boldness that was not part of my childhood or early adult personality.  I was a go-with-the-flow, don’t-rock-the-boat kind of person. Now, I’m rocking all sorts of boats and not necessarily by choice or in pleasure. You may have once been shy and soft-spoken and now God is slowly placing you on stages to speak before audiences. You may think, “I can’t do this. It’s uncomfortable.” It will be but He will grow you into it, and to a point where you can’t imagine yourself being anything less.

As we transform, Satan hopes by feeling uncomfortable in new territory we will retreat—but press forward in Him.

Here’s the devotional:

I DESIGNED YOU to live in union with Me. This union does not negate who you are; it actually makes you more fully yourself. When you try to live independently of Me, you experience emptiness and dissatisfaction. You may gain the world and yet lose everything that really counts. Find fulfillment through living close to Me, yielding to My purposes for you. Though I may lead you along paths that feel alien to you, trust that I know what I am doing. If you follow Me wholeheartedly, you will discover facets of yourself that were previously hidden. I know you intimately—far better than you know yourself. In union with Me, you are complete. In closeness to Me, you are transformed more and more into the one I designed you to be.

Accompanying Scriptures: Mark 8:36, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” Psalm 139:13-16, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my untransformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”  2 Corinthians 3:17-18, “Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. “ (New International Version)