Little By Little He's Changing Me (by Carolyn Marshall)



© 2011 Carolyn Marshall, Living Life Photography

Have you ever really stopped to think about how God has changed your life? Do you ever reflect back on the "little-by-little" changes He has made in you and how you and others have been blessed by those changes?

The best blessing of all for me was when I realized that God sacrificed His only Son for me and that I could receive salvation through His amazing Grace. I became a Christian when I was a young child, but my life was by no means lived as a Christian should live it. I was determined to live my way. Isn't that the way most of us usually do? But, through it all, God still blessed me with all the necessities of life. He kept me safe through all my wrong choices, and He kept whispering to me "come home." But I had the "mute" button on or down to the lowest level, and I wasn't listening. I know I did things that had to break His heart and cause Him to be very disappointed in me. Still, He didn't stop blessing me with all the things I needed.

A lot of years passed as I continued to live a backslidden life. Then, about 21 years ago, God blessed me by bringing my husband,Ted, into my life. I had been through two marriages already. I had gotten to my lowest low. I wanted to stop living the life I was living; and I wanted a husband with whom I could build a loving relationship that would last a lifetime. But, most of all, I wanted a marriage that would bless and honor God. My prayers were from a tearful heart and God heard me.

Ted didn't know Christ as his personal Savior when we first met. God allowed some very "challenging" situations to happen in our lives, because we were still trying to do it our way. Yet, through it all, He continued to bless us with safety and the necessities of life. But He was still whispering to me "come home." In 2004, we started going to a local church in Fort Myers, Florida, where Ted heard God’s call and let Him into his heart. That day was the beginning of a new life for Ted and me both. But we began by crawling. The seed God had put in our hearts to know and love Him was growing, but we were in need of serious pruning. Almost six years ago, we found a new church home at Great Hope Christian Fellowship in Tampa, Florida. God really began blessing us with our new family, and the blessings weren't just wonderful "tangible" things. They were, and still are, spiritual awareness and growth.

When I think about it, my spiritual growth reminds me of watching a movie. When you first watch a good movie, you can’t stop talking about it. If it is really good, you want to watch it over and over. The first time you saw it, you thought you saw and understood everything that went on. But the second time you watched it, you saw things you missed the first time. You saw the "big" picture the first time around, but you missed a lot of the little details that really pulled the story together. The third time, you picked up on still another little detail you missed the first two times

When I first accepted Christ, I saw the picture as a whole. In my life, God has blessed me through trials, tribulations and, yes, good stuff, too. With each new step I take, He is drawing me ever closer to Him, and He is opening my eyes to a clearer picture of what the story is really about. I’m still a long way from understanding everything … and never will until the day we all get to be with Him. God’s gift of salvation is, without question, the greatest gift He has given me. He continues to bless me every day by loving me just the way I am, with all my faults, and by leading me, by whatever measure it takes, down the path that takes me straight to Him.

God blesses me in so many ways that I couldn't begin to count them … my husband, family, friends, home, food, clothing, creativity … on and on. I will never get it totally right. But, I will never stop trying the best I know how to live the life He has called me to live. Yes, little by little, He IS changing me. And He can change you, too, if you will let Him.