Miriam Thurlow writes:

Miriam Thurlow writes:

Sitting with God at the start of the new year He brought a memory to mind, from when I learnt to ski. I had done some lessons to learn the basics and then I set off to do a run with some friends. I was excited, but when I got to the top it was a lot steeper and icier than I had expected! I thought oh my goodness have I misplaced my confidence! Then this phrase came into my mind ‘trust your legs’. Sounds strange, but part of how you ski is to transfer your weight from leg to leg. The only way to get down was to trust that if I put into practice what I had learnt in my ski lessons it would work! It wasn’t fast or elegant, but I made it safely down the mountain. 

I asked God why He had reminded me of this moment and sensed Him saying to trust my foundations in Him. Trust I wouldn’t slip and go flying off the mountain or get blown by the wind. But I would only know that when I acted on it and lived into it.

Building foundations is a great thing to do, but we also have to trust in them that they will do their job. The purpose of foundations it to be weight bearing, to provide stability and to give strength. But we only really know this when we try them, to test them. Not to see if we are good enough or how we compare to others but about having a growth mindset. Seeing that different is possible, that the ‘more and more like Him’ is true for each of us.

In Romans 12:1-2, Paul urges us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices in response to God’s mercy. He says ‘Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.’ To pattern our lives not after the changing fashions of the world but instead allow them be shaped by Jesus. This doesn’t mean we are to be totally passive, wishing away time until we are transformed, but to lean in, to say yes and trust that God can and will bring transformation. 

Transformation is not about condemnation. Not about saying there is so much more that I need to do, nor is it only for a special few, nor is it about just doing more new things. What if it is more about trusting more and walking in obedience more.

So, are you ready to trust your legs!? Trusting our foundation - the unmovable, unshakeable rock that is Jesus. Trusting He has already begun the transforming work in us when we first met Him, but also trusting He hasn’t finished with us yet. He delights in transformation, He delights to make us more and more like Him. It’s not about having a masterplan for our spiritual formation but about allowing Him to shape us into His masterpieces who reflect His glory to the world around us.

He is more than ready to transform us, are we ready to offer our whole selves to Him?

Reverend Miriam Thurlow CCBN