Colossians 3:16

 ^“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.^”

During this time of the coronavirus, my mom and I haven’t had my attendants come to our house so that we make sure we are abiding by the social distancing guidelines. That means writing things are done a little out of routine. I don’t mind though, I’m enjoying it. I’m getting more writing done than ever before. It’s great! However, you know how I’ve often said that with cerebral palsy, repetition is the key so that I don’t forget how to do certain movements? Well, just before this whole thing with the coronavirus, Jessica and I were going to start a new YouTube series. Originally, what you see with pictures was supposed to be on my YouTube channel. Unfortunately, just before our nation went on lockdown, Jessica got the common cold and wasn’t able to come over to my house to help me. When I found out our nation was ge.oing to be on lockdown, that’s when I decided to make them into articles so people could have something to read, and also to keep my brain active.

Anyway, the point is, the steps to make the heart weren’t fresh in my mind. One day, when I was home with my mom, I tried making the heart the way Jessica showed me, and I found that my brain got stuck. After I flattened the ball, I tried to pull my fingers about two centimeters, and then I just couldn’t get the hang of how to form the bottom of the heart. As much as I tried to do it over and over, I just couldn’t do it the way Jessica showed me. That’s how long it had been. Even though Jessica had written out the steps, they didn’t make sense to me anymore. It showed me how much Jessica had been giving me cues throughout the process, and instructing me.

Finally, my mom showed me a new method. After I formed the ball, I smashed it down with my palm. Then, I pulled it at the top like Jessica showed me. Here’s what I did differently: I turned the heart over to make the edges smoother. After many times of practice, I finally got it.

This experience reminded me of how easy it is to forget God’s promises that He has kept to us when we don’t acknowledge Him on a daily basis. Sometimes, I find myself wishing that I had a lesser degree of cerebral palsy; then I could drive and walk without my walker. If I had better fine motor skills, I could draw my own illustrations for my books, make my own jewelry; the list goes on and on. However, I feel better when I remind myself of the scriptures and the many more adventures I’ve had that I might not have had if I didn’t have cerebral palsy. I also feel better when I realize how good God has been to me through the years, and how good He continues to be in my life. Then I’m able to praise God again, and proclaim His goodness. Moments like what happened with the play-doh are reminders of how important it is to practice certain movements on a daily basis. In the same way, it’s important for me to depend on the Lord for strength on a daily basis. Without Him, I am nothing.

Dear Lord,

Help me to remember to turn to you for strength on a daily basis. Forgive me when I get too distracted and don’t spend time with you, and when I forget your promises and grow bitter about my disability. I know that without you I’m nothing. Help your word to dwell in me richly. Amen.

Here are the steps Jessica wrote out for me.

 Here’s the new heart I made with my mom.

^“ I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.”

Ezekiel 36:26-27

This is the last step in making a completed heart. This could symbolize what a new heart being transformed by God looks like. Perfect! I’m not going to go through the steps, because they are pretty much the same as last week. Please read “God sees things from a different angle; Mirroring Obedience.” You can also look at my previous posts before this one in the series.  However, I will say this: It took me a while to really see that yes, I really did form a heart and apply the right amount of pressure on the sides to form the bottom. It was another one of those steps where I don’t know how many times it took until I got it right, but I got it eventually, and that’s what matters.

Anyway, when we finally get to that point where we say, “Oh God I can’t take it anymore!” That’s when He says to those that come to Him with true repentance, “Let me show you the benefits of having a new heart modeled after mine.” When you have a lasting physical challenge as I do, eventually you have a heart that stops desiring for physical healing and longs for our world to have a deeper, spiritual healing. A heart that has its eyes fixed on heaven and starts praying and weeping for our nation. Someone with a new heart begins to see that those who don’t follow Christ actually have, as one of my camp speakers put it, “A human disability.” Amen! Many times, I’ve looked at our culture and thought that most people are too independent for their own good. Like I’ve said many times, a transformed heart is one that is not so self-focused on the world’s idea of physical healing. A transformed heart takes the attitude of the blind man found in John chapter 9 and says, “Okay Lord, show me how you want me to display your good works in my life and proclaim your goodness to the world. Take my life and completely transform it as only you can do.”

Amen