Sunday 25 May 2014

It's Life-Changing!

I was talking with a friend the other day and we touched on the subject of christian conferences. I recalled attending one a few years ago and sending my friend a text saying how life-changing it all was.

But the truth is it wasn't.

Yes, I got stirred and excited at the time, but it didn't actually change my life. There was some good teaching, but I didn't really change because of it.

Like almost every other christian in the western world, I've flocked to the latest (christian) conference, listened to the newest (christian) music, read the most recent (christian) bestseller. But very little of it has made a lasting impact on how I live. At best, the effect has been superficial and short-lived.

So I asked the question, "What has been life-changing for me?" And then I realised.

Pain and suffering.

Experiences of deep wounding and grief have left their mark on my life.

I've changed.

I've grown.

I'm not the same person I was before I went through the 'dark night of the soul'. Pain and suffering produced a type of death in me. And after death, a new way of living. Life-changing.

Life changed!

And it occurs to me that just maybe Jesus knew a thing or two when he spoke about losing life to gain it... taking up our cross... dying so that we might live. Just maybe...

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