For those who want further Scripture reading each day here are a couple of suggestions:
-Read one Psalm a day and meditate on it.
-Read the book of Acts and focus on the idea of faith.

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." Ezekiel 36:26

The New Testament is filled with the miracles of Jesus.  He healed the sick, cast out demons, and even raised the dead.  These are the acts that come to mind when the word miracle is mentioned. Today I want to focus on what I think is the greatest miracle of all: that God can change a human heart.  Even more miraculous is that He can change mine.  Has it ever happened to you that you begin to pray for a difficult situation or an impossible relationship and as time goes on, though the situation remains unchanged, and the people remain impossible, somehow it just doesn’t seem so difficult anymore?  Maybe you have noticed this happening over these 40 days with your “hopeless cases"?  In my life, it seems as though God has answered my prayers by working within my own heart much more often than by changing the external circumstances that I am faced with. It isn’t easy, though, is it?  When God shines his light into some dark corner of my heart, it is painful. In the past, I have described this process “having my skin peeled off".  God scrapes away at our hearts to remove the filth and the lies and the pride so that we can become more like Jesus.  How many of us are trying to serve God but we’ve never let him change our hearts?  We say we follow Jesus, but we’re unkind to our spouse.  We say we follow Jesus, but we’re dishonest to people.  We say we follow Jesus, but our hearts are made of stone.  Last year, after my 40 day fast, God immediately took me to my relationship with my husband.  God had trusted me with this incredible man and I was just not loving him like I should have been.  God showed me that I cared more about myself than I did about him. What followed was painful, but I knew that, like an abscessed tooth that must be pulled, I had to allow God to clean up that area of my life. Even though it was painful, I knew that He was doing it because He loved me too much to leave me the way I was. He chipped away at the stone of my heart until he found what he was looking for: a heart of flesh.  Though I still struggle every single day with selfishness, I know that God changed my heart during that time.  I want to share with you a poem that I wrote about that time of painful heart change in my life.  I hope that it encourages you to trust that God, the powerful Creator, is also the gentle Restorer.

                           The Restorer

You seek to rebuild me for I am broken

Like a piece of furniture – once a treasure standing in its place with dignity, overwhelming in its natural beauty.  The years pass and the treasure becomes a once-treasure—the years of neglect stripping it of its purity.  Plastic flowers adorn its top—their vase scratching the once flawless surface. A coat of yellow paint meant to beautify now hides the natural perfection of the grain.  The raw beauty of the wood is forgotten—hidden from sight and lost to memory.

Painful is the sight of the once-treasure and so it is dragged up the narrow stairs into the attic—its home now an unremarkable corner occupied by worms and dust. As the attic door closes, the moist dust begins its acidy decay and the worms make the wood their home. The once-treasure is forsaken--forgotten to all but You.

The years pass slowly for the once-treasure, alone in the dusty dark of the attic. Sight of it brings painful reminders of the yellow paint of neglect and the gaudy flowers of abuse and the plastic vase of transgression that tainted and scarred and bent—and so the attic door is locked and the once-treasure fades—forgotten to all but You.

Hidden for years, yet finally the day comes when a triangle of dust-flecked light invades the dim corner of the once-treasure’s attic home.  The eyes that find the once-treasure are not filled with blame, but with recognition—and kindness.
                
You blow off the thick layer of dust

You run your scarred and calloused Carpenter’s hand along the blistered worm damaged surface—

You bend closer – there beneath the gaudy colors you see a minute patch of true brown – the grain strong and sure. You smile.

You have not forgotten.

You straighten up, and as you roll up your sleeves you whisper:

So You set to work—undaunted by the task before You

For You are the Restorer.

The hours pass and then the days and still You chip and scrape until the yellow paint litters the ground at Your feet. You look at the knife that scrapes and the acid that peels and You know that they will leave their scars. Yet You also know that without the burning and stripping, the true wood would be buried forever beneath the years of gaudy yellow paint.

Picking up the sand paper You begin to smooth the surface of the once-treasure. Beneath the gentle persistence of Your hand, the worm holes give up their raggedness and the stubborn paint surrenders.

At last, You straighten Your bent back and say,

“It is finished."

You begin the difficult descent of the narrow attic stairs carrying the once-treasure easily on Your back as though familiar with bearing rough burdens.  Your eyes find the space left by the absence of the once-treasure and You carefully replace the treasure-now-restored.

It is true that the original shine is lost and the once flawless surface is pocked with smoothed-out worm holes and scarred with the marks of the scraping knife.  Yet this does not bring dismay, for You see that the treasure-now-restored holds a far greater beauty.

For its now-beauty remembers the acrid smell of the yellow paint and the weight of the plastic vase and it will not forget the freedom that came from the touch of the Carpenter’s hand.

As the carpenter turns—His work complete—the treasure-now-restored whispers:

“Thank you—for I have been rebuilt."

Lord, “search me and know my heart…see if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting" (Ps. 139:23-24). Help me to trust you enough to let you change my heart.

In faith: 

Let’s focus on ourselves as “hopeless cases" today.  Let God reveal to you areas of your heart that need to change.