A sister in the Lord, now in her seventies, shared the following testimony: This is Jean’s account of how it is never too late to change.
The Lord took Jean back to her childhood and reminded her of how unfair her mother had been to her. She was often more strict with her than with her other siblings, and if Jean was chastised, her mother would then not speak to her for a few days. Jean had taken this behaviour pattern into her own marriage of 40 years. If she and her husband had issues of disagreement, Jean would retreat inwardly and not speak to her husband as a form of punishment for 2 or 3 days. She was reciprocating the behaviour she had received at the hand of her mother. Until the Lord showed her, Jean had no idea where the root of her behaviour pattern had formed. She repented before the Lord, received forgiveness and asked Him to help her break free from it.
Next day Jean and her husband had an issue of disagreement. Jean felt the old behaviour pattern rising up in her, but this time she called out to the Lord, “Please help me, Lord.” Her husband, used to a lifetime of the silent treatment remarked, “Oh, I suppose you are going into one of your sulks now!” But the Spirit of God spoke clearly to Jean, “DON’T LET THIS MOMENT BECOME A LIFETIME!” Jean realised the Lord was offering her a choice to react to her husband, or respond to the Lord. Jean made a choice, the right choice, she chose to respond. She smiled sweetly and stayed in fellowship with her husband. Jesus had broken the bondage of a lifetime habit with her.
Every day we can choose life or death with the words we speak. When we make a right choice before the Lord, His Holy Spirit comes alongside of our choice and pours in His oil of enablement, changing the habits of a lifetime until the old ways are a thing of the past and the life of the Indwelling Christ replaces those habits. We are never too old to change.
DON’T LET THE MOMENT BECOME A LIFETIME……..AND A LIFESTYLE!!
