It Starts with Me…

I am a person in process. I am in the middle. I am not where I was because I am further down the road, but I certainly haven’t arrived because there’s far more ground to cover. So where am I? I am here at the intersection where one truth is clear: I want change, real and lasting change; yet in order for that to happen it must start with me. I don’t have words for others…I only have words for me; my heart; my prejudice; my ignorance. I’m grateful that Jesus came to save me from myself. My “heart is deceitful above all things” and without the power of God to transform my heart there will be no lasting change. I’m too selfish, self-seeking, and blind to love others the way He wants me to. Only He can take my pride and transform it into humility. His desire is for me to “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” Philippians 2:3 He asks me to be a “defender of the weak”, to “do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with God.” Isaiah 61:1-3 has been my life verse (s) since I was 15… “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.” If I do not hear the black voice that questions if they “matter” and shout, “YES! Yes, YOU matter!! You matter to me and I will stand by you.” Then who am I? I can’t say that I love Jesus and choose to not love the ones He made in His own image! “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.” Romans 12:9-10 Change must come and it starts with me.