The choices we make in our lives have a way of shaping and changing our lives. Over time, those significant decisions we make have a way of transforming us. Whether or not we choose to marry or stay single, or to form a religious belief or remain an unbeliever, these choices conform us into someone other than we would have been if we’d decided differently. If I’d remained an unbeliever, and stayed single, I’d be a much different person than I am today.

Oh The Consequence of Choice

  I never saw myself as becoming a believer in Jesus. I’d met a few “Jesus Freaks” in high school and had made a definite decision against turning into anyone such as that. Yet in my search for happiness, Jesus presented Himself as a viable option. 

By the time Jesus presented himself as a possible choice in my search for happiness, I’d already tried the things the world presented to me; independence, free thinking, and posing as a groovy and organic non-conformist. None of these philosophies satisfied my hunger for very long. No matter how hard I tried to convince myself that I could chisel out my own sense of contentment in life, or how hard I tried to succeed as a groovy and organic independent woman, I felt like a pretender. It was exhausting to live a life I was never meant to live, to keep up the front that I needed to convince others that I was happy and secure when indeed I was not. That was my life before I made the choice to believe that Jesus had a better life for me.

What has changed as a result of the choice I made to believe Jesus as being the way, the truth and life? Mostly everything and I’m still in the process of being transformed. So far though, I can say that I possess a sense of peace and contentment which goes far beyond anything this world could ever manufacture, package and well. 

The second choice I made that I could never have imagined making was to marry. Marriage went against my philosophy that I didn’t need anyone, that I could make it on my own and that men, in general, were not trustworthy. It was a good thing that I met up with Jesus before my husband proposed marriage to me. Without the preliminary work that came from the inward working of the Holy Spirit, my husband would have had a zero chance of me becoming his wife. As it was, he had to propose three times to me before I finally accepted. 

What has changed as a result of committing to marriage? Without a doubt, I am not the same person I was when I was single. As a friend once told me, “Marriage forces us to grow up.” Which it has, but in a most loving and gentle manner because the man I married is most loving and gentle. 

Why bother considering our choices? The choices we make in life will conform us into something other than who we presently are. The question we get to answer is; do I really want to be conformed by this choice I’ve made?