We might think a new car or a new home will make us happier or help us to be more satisfied with life. Or perhaps if I change my hair style I will have higher self-esteem. Maybe if I just lost twenty pounds my husband would treat me better. I could go on and on. The point is that most often we focus so much on the symptoms that we are never able to cure what is causing the problems in the first place.
God doesn’t see it this way. He sees our sin, the disease within us that holds us back from being all that He created us to be. He can also see us at our fullest potential, the best-version-of-ourselves. So He doesn’t lose hope in us and is always willing to help us make the changes needed to come closer to His vision of us. Sometimes healing is needed. Often times we have to make painful sacrifices and relinquish control. It’s only when we realize that His plan for us superceeds what we have in mind for ourselves that we can truly make strides in that direction.
“Can I not do to you, house of Israel, as this potter has done?—oracle of the LORD. Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.”
~ Jeremiah 18:6
We have to place ourselves in the tender hands of God, allowing His love and mercy to mold us and shape us into the best-version-of-ourselves. He will begin to transform us, helping us to make those necessary interior changes. He will change us from the inside out. The rest will fall naturally into place.