I used to think transformation should happen quickly. I mean, I’ve heard it before – the drunkard came forward and gave his life to Jesus and “that day” his life was forever changed. But they didn’t tell you the rest of the story. Not that his life wasn’t eternally changed that day, but there was hard work ahead. We are told, “Pray hard, try harder, fix the habits, overcome the past, break the cycles…” and surely, within a few weeks or months, I’d feel like a new creation. Chiseled by time.
To See Through Rose Colored Glasses
But God rarely moves at the speed of my expectations.
He moves at the speed of transformation. And transformation is almost always slow – I am not saying there are not exceptions.
We see it in His people in the wilderness.
A journey that should have taken about 11 days…
took 40 years.
Not because God couldn’t get them into the Promised Land faster…
but because He was transforming them into the kind of people who could live there. His people needed transformation, not transportation.
Deuteronomy 1:2 (NLT)
“Normally it takes only eleven days to travel from Mount Sinai to Kadesh-barnea…”
Physical relocation is quick.
Internal transformation takes time.
Traveling vs The Journey
God isn’t just leading you somewhere —
He is making you someone.
And that process takes time…
often far more time than we think.
Your brain has been shaped for years, even decades, by old patterns:
- fear responses
- survival habits
- anxiety loops
- unhealthy thinking
- lies you didn’t realize you believed
- stories you repeated to yourself without question
- “this is who I am” scripts
- reactions formed in childhood
- assumptions formed along the way
Those neural pathways weren’t carved overnight. Someone, or something, was chiseling away at your brain, little by little, day after day, year after year.
And those pathways won’t be rewritten overnight.
Flipping the Switch
Renewing your mind is not a switch God flips.
It’s a path you walk, again and again, until the path becomes clear.
Just like Israel, God is not just changing your circumstances.
He is changing your character, your beliefs, your identity, your responses, your mind.
And that takes desert time.
Not as punishment…
but as preparation.
Romans 12:2 (NIV)
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
Transformed.
Renewed.
Not instantly.
Not automatically.
But continually.
Daily.
Step by step.
Path by path.
Philippians 1:6
“…He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion…”
God doesn’t rush His work.
He completes it.
A Lot to Think About
If I’m honest, there were many seasons where I felt stuck.
Not moving forward. Talk about stuck – my wife has been studying Lot and his lot in life, so to speak. He and his wife looked back, and that’s where they got stuck, literally!
There are times when I am not seeing change.
Wondering if I was missing God…
or if He was missing me.
But now I can see something I couldn’t see then:
God wasn’t delaying me. He was transforming me.
Being in the Wilderness
The wilderness wasn’t wasted.
The waiting wasn’t pointless.
The slow pace wasn’t punishment.
It was God reshaping my mind.
And reshaping my heart.
And reshaping my identity.
Just like a sculptor with granite —
God chips away little by little.
One thought at a time.
One belief at a time.
One step at a time.
Transformation/Neuroplasticity
Our brains are like stone in the sense that they are deeply programmed,
traced with old pathways…
but also beautifully capable of being renewed.
Neuroscientists call this neuroplasticity.
Scripture calls it transformation.
You and I don’t become new through big moments.
We become new through daily renewing.
Daily surrender.
Daily obedience.
And daily steps.
You don’t wake up transformed.
But you do wake up being transformed.
And that’s the slow, holy, patient work of God.
Here’s a Thought
God is not rushing your transformation.
And He is not disappointed with your pace.
He knows how long the old patterns have been there.
He knows the stories that shaped you.
And He knows the deserts you had to walk through.
He also knows the roots He’s growing in you.
Transformation is slow…
but it is steady.
And God is ahead of you. He is always preparing the next step.
“Oh God, don’t give up on me!”
Challenge of the Week
Choose one area of your thinking that needs renewing and do this:
- Name the old thought.
(“I’m behind.” “I’m not enough.” “Nothing’s changing.” “God is silent.”) - Declare the new truth.
(“God is ahead of me.” “He is renewing me.” “Transformation is happening.”) - Repeat it daily — out loud.
Speak it until the new pathway becomes clearer than the old one.
Small steps. Daily choices. Slow progress. Deep transformation. That’s how God rewrites a life.
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