What has been playing over and over in my mind for some time is something from the 1990 movie “Pretty Woman.” I was talking about this to a friend today and got inspired to write about it. Remember towards the end of the movie Vivian (Julia Roberts) said this to Edward (Richard Gere)…
“But now everything is different, and you’ve changed that. And you can’t change back. I want more.”
Now don’t laugh…. but in my warped fairy tale believing mind…. I thought I WAS PRETTY WOMAN!!!! LOL!!! Or I at least aspired to be her. I think there secretly were many “pretty women” hoping and waiting for their prince to come riding in on a white horse to rescue them, or maybe still are waiting.
All of us are born with a hole in our hearts and this hole can only be filled one way. In our humanity and brokenness, we desperately try anyone or anything that we think will fill up that void we so clearly sense in our souls – maybe subconsciously – but it’s still there. We turn to things like sex, drugs, food, alcohol, and the list goes on – we beat our heads against so many walls before we finally find the answer. But with grace from our Creator, we find that He’s the one who created us with that empty cavity inside of our hearts. He is the only One who can fill it!
My Prince did come to rescue me, although it wasn’t the rescue experience Hollywood so typically portrays. We tend to fight and run away from things we don’t want, rather than take what is given – that we need. Muscular Dystrophy is an ugly thing. You can bet I fought against it. I fought everything about it. But I NEEDED IT. I was traveling on a destructive path. I was roaming the Highway to Hell. But wait a minute… I had no idea where I was headed… “yeah, I know I made more than a few mistakes but I’m basically a good person.” Oh, and the Bible was something I never took seriously. Let me show you what God says about your heart…
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9
To make a long story shorter, God laid me flat on my back to get my attention. I was forced to spend time alone with Him. He taught me things. soooo many things! I said it before and I’ll say it again… The greatest blow to my outer man has been the greatest blessing to my inner man. Today I am a Woman of God. That’s something I would have laughed at before I was saved. If you’re reading this and thinking that it sounds crazy, listen to what the Bible says. So much truth here…
“But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Corinthians 2: 14
So my friend, if you don’t know Jesus in a personal way – my plea is to get serious. Time is short! You need to be restored to who you were designed to be. Come back to the way you were meant to be as designed by God, a God-centered you. The gospel enables you to become as you were meant to be. It is to be reconciled to God, to be in Christ and Christ in you, to have your sins removed and His righteousness yours as you are in Christ. This restoration happens as you become a Christian; it happens more and more as you follow Christ… Read More