Be Transformed Not Conformed

Heather Butler

Wales UK

December 14th 2007

Be ye transformed by the renewal of your mind.

Dear friends, I pray that as you read this word, that you will enjoy the personal testimony. I used to worry so much about giving testimony, because it meant talking about me, and what the Lord has done in my life, and I worried about people thinking that I was proud. But, it was a lie of the enemy against my mind, the word tells us to give testimony to his goodness.

In Revelation it tells us that they overcame by the word of testimony and the blood of the lamb. I pray that because of the saving grace and blood of Jesus shed for me, that this testimony will enable you to overcome areas in your own lives too. Be blessed Heather.

It has taken me many years to get the this season in my life where I can praise God for the uniqueness of who I am in Him.

I praise God that I don’t have to be like anyone else on the earth, that I simply have to be true to the Lord and true to myself, and be who the Father fashioned me to be!

I don’t come in the packaging you’d expect, I don’t look the part, I don’t conform to the image of who others have wanted me to become.

I used to be ashamed to admit that people were uncomfortable around me, they couldn’t understand why I never shut up about Jesus, people loved me, but didn’t understand the intensity of a relationship that had been born out of my complete and utter dependence on the Lord because often there was know one else to talk to or turn to or go to.

For years I thought that there was something wrong with me, and Id cry, “why can’t I be like them Lord, why aren’t I that clever Lord, why am I so big Lord, “

I lived a life of wanting to be like every body else and not who I truly am. It brought me misery for years, because I had missed the point! I had misunderstood why I was fashioned the way that I am and not like every one else. The Lord wants multiplication of every good thing in my life, but he doesn’t want duplication!

I AM UNIQUE

I didn’t get to the place where I am now by conforming to the ways of other peoples opinion of me. I am here today because I absolutely dared to believe that what the word says is true, and that the Lord could use me in spite of my weaknesses, in spite of the fact that I’m not perfect! In spite of the fact that others didn’t always agree with the call of the Lord over my life and brought discouragement, and depression at times.

I dared to not allow life to dictate my destiny to me anymore, rather refusing to be a reflection of who I should be I broke free of the mould and release gushed into my life as rivers of living waters and washed away all that got in the way of who I truly was created to be, a person of destiny.

The enemy of God had mapped out a very different course for my life, often trying to entice me into a world of materialism, religiosity, idolatry, unforgiveness, anger. I learned very early on in my walk, that when the enemy comes in I only have to call upon the Lord and he is with me, to guide, to change attitudes, to confront me with my sin, and lead me to repentance. I am a child of God, and he is not about to give up on me when I get it wrong, when I make a wrong turn, he is more than able to set me back on track again very quickly.

The rivers of his love grace and mercy wash away my sin, and remove who I could be away from who I have been created to be.

I am a rebellious woman, yes I am, you’d better believe it, I rebel against the enemy of God! I call out to the Lord and he hears my cries, even in the midst of my unbelief at times when I am consumed, even in those times I know that I know that the Lord is still there, that he is going know where and is staying right with me to help me sort out what I’m going through at any given moment.

I rebel against the enemy as I praise my Lord even as tears run down my face and I can’t face another harsh word of criticism, another moment of loneliness at times. I dare to stamp my feet and clap my hands and dance wildly before the Lord as I shake off that attack that entered into my family life, that broke my heart at times as sickness came to those I loved, but still I dared to believe that even when things were so bad that the Lord would be able to help us, and he never failed us not once, he was the direct answer to every question, to every circumstance, to every cry from the heart hallelujah!

I am not fashioned to conform to this world, rather I am called to be transformed by the renewal of my mind and to run the race barging into the enemy and pushing him vigorously out of my pathway as I run strong and hard.

In the natural I’m a plump blonde, who can’t run to far without falling over and gasping for breath, but in the supernatural realms of the Lord I am enabled to slam the rod of authority I have been given into the ground of my life and every situation that surrounds me, so that I can be propelled into the territory that the Lord wants me to be in quickly, and invigorated by the breath of the Spirit breathed into me, He alone takes my breath away.

I’m transparent and tell it as it is. I don’t know everything, and conversations with other Christians are not easy sometimes, because they don’t see me, they only see someone that is not like them, and they want to make me like them, and I don’t want to be, I want to be who I was made to be. I trod that pathway for years, trying to fit in, dressing the part, saying the right things, but it made my life bland and uninteresting, something was missing and I began to realise that what was missing was the most important ingredient of them all, IT WAS ME! Lol

Jesus said these words, he said “I am that I am” and if that’s good enough for him, then its good enough for me, I am who I am too.

I didn’t get this far by conventional means, if I’d listened to many people along the way I would never have done anything!

Some would say I was rebellious because I wouldn’t conform to their way of thinking, that I wouldn’t simply sit like I was told and do nothing.

I had the greatest respect and love for my pastors, and Christian friends, but I really got up their noses because they simply could not come to terms with the fact that I was up and out working for the Lord, ministering in other places. These people loved me, and I knew that, but they misunderstood who I was created to be, and they didn’t know what to do with me.

This is probably the first time that I have been so vulnerable before so many, but I believe that In my being transparent before you that some of you may recognise those same traits in yourself.

We love Jesus desperately, we cant get enough of Him, we eat breathe and dream about Him, we live for Him daily, dying to self, and to all around us that would hinder us. We are besotted, women and men of God who are in love, and that love spurs us on into the places where we would never had dared go alone, but we are not alone, and we truly understand the reality of that In Him.

If this is you too, be happy, don’t be sad, you are unique too! Every single one of us born to accomplish much for the kingdom of heaven.

We were born to make a huge difference in the world and a crater in the plans and the camp of the enemy.

You see when we truly know who we are, when we own up to who we really are, its in that place that the Lord can use us to our greatest potential.

If you are reading this and crying with relief then praise God, its about time you woke up to the reality of the beauty and the strength of who you are in Him.

Today is your new day, it starts right hear right now.

Welcome to who you are, wonderfully and fearfully made, created in the image of the Father, to bring light into a dark world, to release captives from bondage, to bring healing and deliverance and freedom in the lives of all who come across your path, you are called to minister in every way that the Lord chooses to use you, without worry, or fear, but to simply trust in him, not to lean on our own understanding, and to follow the one who has captivated our souls forever.

Be transformed, no longer conformed.

In the love of Jesus, the greatest gift to you this Christmas is Jesus in YOU.

Merry Christmas with love

Heather.