Episode 044--Transformation Island
Take a trip to Transformation Island. It’s totally different from Renovation Island. Renovation is a one-time thing. You buy an old house, renovate it and sell it for a profit. It’s out of your hands. The renovation is complete.
Transformation is an ongoing process. It takes commitment from the beginning through progressive changes we know won’t be quick but will be lasting.
On Transformation Island, the first thing we must do is work on the inside. We have to begin to identify the core issues we have which are holding us back from wanting to change. Transformation will not happen without some major changes in our lives.
Those changes are not just in what we eat and how we move. They are in why we eat what we eat, especially if it is unhealthy for us or is in a quantity we know is not healthy for us. The changes are also in why we refuse to move when we know it will help our health to do that.
Paul tells us how to transform in Romans 12:2 MSG. “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.”
When we are going on another diet, we are focusing on the wrong thing. We are focusing on changing the outside of us thinking we are just fine on the inside. I want to tell you from experience that is not true.
We have to know what God thinks in order to be transformed to His image. The only way to do that is to focus on Him and not on us. We must allow Him to renew our minds.
Romans 12:1-2 AMP tells us how to do that. It’s not easy, but it is a necessary part of transformation. “Present your bodies, dedicating all of yourselves, set apart as a living sacrifice, holy and well-pleasing to God, which is your rational, logical, intelligent act of worship.
“And do not be conformed to this world any longer with its superficial values and customs, but be transformed and progressively changed as you mature spiritually by the renewing of your mind, focusing on godly values and ethical attitudes, so that you may prove for yourselves what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect in His plan and purpose for you.”
I see five points about transformation in these scriptures.
The journey on transformation Island will be difficult, but oh so rewarding. It’s messy. In the chrysalis everything caterpillar melts and provides the energy for the butterfly to be developed. The caterpillar held the original design for the butterfly in its cells all this time. But in order for the butterfly to emerge, the caterpillar had to surrender to the process of extreme transformation.
That’s exactly what it was like for me to lose 250 pounds. It was extreme transformation. I had a lot of lies I believed. Those were formed when I was young and impressionable. As I submitted to the transformation process, God began revealing those to me one by one. I had allowed them to build into strongholds that were keeping me from going forward on my journey.
On some level I felt these lies helped me because they gave me excuses as to why I couldn’t go forward. Lies like I can’t lose weight, I have no value, even God can’t help me and so many more. God wanted to break these strongholds so I could move forward into the destiny He had for me, but I had to want them broken. I had to allow Him to do the deep work in me to utterly destroy the lies I believed and replace them with His truth.
My new course Breaking Strongholds will address this and more. It will debut in Overcomers Academy starting Sept. 24, 2020. The course will be based out of my new book, Sweet Surrender, which won’t be ready until later in 2020. In the group, I will be able to personally answer your questions as I walk you through identifying and breaking the strongholds holding you back.
Overcomers Academy: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers-christian-weight-loss-academy/
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