Being Renewed

My husband took this picture of our former-homeless friend Greg.  If you are new here at my place, we met Greg last August when he was homeless.   He was the answer to my prayer of should I start a book on the homeless.  I did. We built a friendship with Greg over the weeks. Five weeks later I had the priveledge of praying the sinners prayer with Greg.

I pondered as I watched him at the river today. . .

Greg went from being an ex-con, ex drug dealer, homeless guy to a redeemed man with a home.  A physical home to call his own and an eternal home with the Savior that has begun.

Greg still struggles with issues.  But now the Holy Spirit inside of him convicts him where once before he was not.  Greg used to go to the bars and places where he got stuff that wasn't good for him.  Now he goes to church every Sunday and volunteers at Hope House twice a week.  He reads his devotionals and he prays and he ponders.

His life is much different now than it once was.  He has real friends who love him in spite of his issues.  Don't we all have some kind of issues.  Maybe not like his but then I think scales are not used to weigh one against the other.

Greg has treated me like a lady from day one.  When I need prayer, he always stops right then and there and bows his head, praying to the Father from deep in his heart.

Greg never lies to me.  He never pawns off bad decisions on others.  He is honest when it would be easy to not be. I appreciate this about him.

I have never seen a man try as hard as he does.  He went from one kind of world into a completely different kind of world.  He left a dark world and stepped into the light of Christ.  He has some remnants from the past but he ponders and he prays and in time, I believe it will all be gone from total surrender.

We have watched his mind being changed, renewed.  His way of thinking has changed tremendously over the months. Where once he was hunkered down in depression, he now throws back his head in laughter.  Where once he only thought only of himself,  he now is thinking of others. Where once he would have sold drugs to make money, he now gives of his time only to help others. 

I ponder the word surrender and ask myself tough questions. . .

Do I surrender my finances for others?

Do I surrender my dreams and wants for what His will is?

Do I surrender my comfort zones to go where He asks me to go?

Do I surrender my selfish desires to partake in His desires?

Am I willing to do what He asks even though it is not easy?

Do I trust to go down a road where I cannot see the end?

Before any of us may take on that desire to judge one, we should ask of ourselves the tough questions. We should step into that someone's shoes and feel where they have been.  Their decision to surrender may have come much tougher for them than it did, than it does for us. 

I have been transformed for many years and I think I have learned to test and discern.  New ones in this life need the time that we more seasoned ones have had.  They need to ponder and pray and learn and practice and live with the new heart and mind that comes when Jesus enters the heart.  As I think about it, even us seasoned ones are still pondering, praying, learning, practicing, and being renewed, aren't we?

My husband Keith and I think much of Greg and love him like a brother.

Please pray for Greg, our friend and brother in Christ, as he ponders, prays, and is being renewed and transformed.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 12:2

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