New Year’s Day I shared with you that “transform” is the word God has given me for 2021. This week I have shared with you thoughts about the word “now”. I have spent much time this week thinking and praying about how those two are related and intertwined. I am turning back to the scripture I shared when I wrote about transform but this time I would like to share it from the Message.

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”

Sometimes we become so “well-adjusted to our culture” that we go along with the flow and don’t tune in to ask God what path we should take. Or we tune into Him but fail to follow through on what He tells us. 

Exactly a month ago I had a turn of events that has pushed me to make some changes to transform the trajectory of my health. I have varicose veins. Twelve years ago, after having my daughter Briley, the veins began to cause so much pain and discomfort that I had surgery. The surgery proved to be a blessing and the pain subsided. I had no trouble from my legs until 2015 when I had phlebitis in my right leg. Phlebitis is a blood clot in a superficial vein and it is painful. Thankfully it was caught early on and healed fairly quickly. Again I went years without any problems. However, early this past December my right leg began to hurt. I first thought it was just the varicose veins hurting but I soon realized it must be more serious as the pain became more intense.  The short story is I ended up with two swollen and aggravated places on my right leg that were from phlebitis. One place was more extreme than the other and was terribly painful that I later learned was because I also had cellulitis (infection) around the vein. The doctor prescribed an antibiotic and baby aspirin (blood thinner). The kicker was that I was to stay off my leg for a week, keep it elevated and to apply hot compresses.  Did I mention that this was mid-December and I was told to basically stay in bed for a week??? As you know, that was a busy time at work as well as home. However, I realized the importance of following the doctor’s orders and I did as I was told. Two weeks later I had an appointment with a vein specialist which resulted in being told to continue to elevate my leg when possible, wear compression hose, and to walk (exercise) 20-30 minutes every day possible to help improve the blood flow in my legs. That may not seem hard to you and I do enjoy walking. The problem is finding the time to sneak away from my busy schedule to walk every day. As I had just spent a week in bed with much time to think and pray, I quickly understood a change was needed. I have had to reprioritize my day and transform my thinking, and I had to do it now. 

I am currently reading The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth by John Maxwell. Maxwell shares that early in his professional career he felt the need for growth.  

“In 1974 I attended a seminar at the University of Dayton, where W. Clement Stone spoke on the subject of having a sense of urgency. Stone was a business tycoon who made his fortune in insurance. His session was titled ‘Do It Now,’ and one of the things he told us is this: ‘Before you get out of bed every morning, say ‘do it now’ fifty times. At the end of the day before you go to sleep, the last thing you should do is say, ‘do it now,’ fifty times.” 

Maxwell shares that for the next six months he followed this advice and that it gave him a sense of urgency.

As I shared, one thing I realized I had to do was to transform my priorities and as a result I am transforming my health. So I ask you, is there something you know you need to do? Is there something God has laid on your heart? I pray you will have clarity, discernment, and listen.  I pray you will feel a sense of urgency. And I pray you will do it now. In the words of Walt Disney, “The way to get started is to quit talking and to begin doing.” Reread this Scripture as you prayerfully listen for God’s nudge. And then “do it now”!

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”