10. IMAGINE ENTERING
THE FUTURE AT YOUR BEST
An excerpt from the book Imagine the Future You
By Ada Brownell
E-book,
paper and audible. Read
or listen to first chapter free! Great narrator.
What is your best like?
In my teens, I worked in a peach-packing shed. All day long
I stood beside a conveyor belt sorting beautiful peaches from those with split
seeds, bad spots, wormholes, and other undesirable markings.
At the end of the conveyor belt all the “good” peaches went
through a defuzzer, then were packed in wooden boxes. By the time I was off
work, hundreds of boxes of beautiful peaches stood ready for market, and I was
covered in sweat, dirt, and itchy peach fuzz. Peach fuzz makes you miserable.
How wonderful it was to go home and wash all the misery away!
We’d all be filthy if we didn’t take baths frequently—and
we’d smell, too.
A bath is one of the first things done after a baby’s birth.
And that’s the first thing God does for us when we are born again. All our sins
are washed away and we become so clean we’re said to be “new creatures.”
[1]
When you’re clean you get pretty close to being your best on
the outside and God can make you beautiful inside as well. “The blood of Jesus
Christ His Son cleanses us from every sin.
[2]
Do you doubt that God can change people?
A university psychology professor decided to stage a
religious meeting supposedly to expose the deceitful “psychological” techniques
used by ministers to persuade people to become Christians. Each student was to
contribute something to the meeting.
One Christian student accepted his assignment with horror
and rushed to his pastor’s home.
“What am I going to do?” he asked the pastor’s wife after he
explained the situation.
She chuckled as the Holy Spirit dropped something into her
heart.
“Tell your teacher you’ll bring a derelict from skid row,
and the professor can change him!”
She reminded the student of the people in their church whose
lives had been changed instantly by the power of God.
The staged revival meeting was canceled when the student
made his offer. The professor knew he couldn’t change anyone. But Jesus can. In
churches I’ve attended were people who had been drunkards. There were former
wife beaters, thieves, child abusers, adulterers, and one who had seriously
contemplated murder.
I admit churches still have people who claim to be
Christians who commit horrendous sin. John wrote, “He who says, ‘I know him,’
but does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.’”
[3]
The church used to sing songs of testimony where the
composers told how their lives were changed such as, Since Jesus Came into my Heart, Joy Unspeakable and He Set me Free.
That’s the reason there was so much loud singing, clapping, dancing and
shouting of praises to God that some dubbed the people “Holy Rollers.”
In my youth I was called a Holy Roller. Our church, right in
the middle of our small town, almost quaked with the music. People would peek
in windows and often come inside and go to the altar to accept Jesus.
Truth is, I only saw one person roll in church in my life,
and that was in another denomination. He was a teenager who became so joyful
when he received the Holy Spirit he rolled all over the place, even under the pews!
Usually such an experience changes the person’s life. If I
remember correctly, this youth was called into the ministry that night.
WHAT DO YOU NEED GOD TO DO FOR YOU?
First, you need to think some about who you are.
Below is a little profile I did of myself, and you can
create a similar one for you, pointing out why you are the person you at least
think you are.
1. I’ve been known to be a little scatterbrained. For instance, I once turned off the water that my
husband kept running in the bathtub to keep the water pipes from freezing. I
forgot to turn the water back on after I took a bath. I threw a big coat over
my nightgown and went out to thaw out the pipes (my husband was working out of
town). The door froze shut and I was locked outside in 30-below freezing
temperatures at 2 o’clock in the morning.
2. I’m fun loving. I’ve always loved games. I play board and
card games like Rook, but my favorites are action games such as tennis, volleyball,
badminton, swimming, baseball. I even enjoy walking, jogging, swinging.
3. I have a sense of humor. In high school, I won a trophy
for being best actress in a one-act play contest. A judge took me aside and
told me I could go to Hollywood as another Lucille Ball. Was she thinking
talent or red hair?
4. I enjoy working and seeing things done, everything
polished and organized. I used to say turning a kitchen from messy to clean is
like creating a piece of art. After marriage, a clean nicely decorated house is
connected to my self image.
5. I’m a germ-o-phobe. In my mind there’s no need for people
to be ill with colds and flu, especially if there is a disease like asthma in
the house. Wash those hands. Sanitize. After writing on the medical beat for
seven years also I believe in using bleach on everything after preparing meat
in the kitchen, or after a person with a cold visits our house. Guess that
brings up bacteria-o-phobe. No rare meat, especially hamburger--and chicken
juices should run clear when cooked. No red or pink anywhere. I always have
grilled chicken heated twice when eating out. I came down with salmonella from
grilled chicken about a half dozen times from restaurants. No more. Heat it
twice, or I order deep fried. Grease is better than germs.
6. I’m a seeker of knowledge. I’ve been a student of the
Bible since I was about 14, and prayed for wisdom all my adult life. I enjoy
picking people’s brains, in-depth research, and anything that keeps me filled
with truth.
7. I love romance. To me the most romantic words ever spoken
are “I love you. I want to marry you and I will love only you until death parts
us.” My husband and I made that vow and kept to it now for many decades. I read squeaky clean inspirational historical
romance books with a lead character I like and sympathize with who has a big
problem that needs solved.
I could go on and on. This will give you some idea of how to
probe who you are. Think about it and write down what pops into your head, then
review and rewrite to get to your core.
Ask yourself: What or who do I fear? What do I value? What is
most important to me? What do I cry about? What makes me laugh? What have I
done that I enjoyed? What have I done that I’m proud of? What is the one thing
I would like to do before Jesus comes or I die? When I am sad, who do I talk
to? Who would I like to help? Who have you helped that you didn’t have to?
What do I know that I would like to share? What would I like
to learn? Do I want God in my life? How has not knowing or knowing Jesus
affected me?
IMAGINE YOU TOMORROW
When you’ve answered all the questions or others you choose,
write a description of who you are now. In another column or on another page
write what sort of person you would like to become and how you plan to
accomplish this change.
If you don’t know Jesus, think about how He showed His love
for you by dying on the cross so you could live forever. Have you experienced
the floods of joy that the writer of
Since
Jesus Came into My Heart[4]
wrote about when he said “floods of joy o’er my soul like sea billows
roll?”
Like Lazarus, whose body had been lying cold, still, and
stinking in the tomb, then at Jesus’s command came alive, the sinner awakens to
new life.
Baptism is a testimony to the whole world that you have
experienced that spiritual resurrection. The newness of life comes through our
Redeemer, who is the only One who can rescue humans from sin and death. Peter
said it right after Pentecost, “Neither is there Salvation in any other; for
there is no other name given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
[5]
[1] 2
Corinthians 5:16–18
