On this past Saturday, my husband and I had the opportunity to attend the board retreat for New Horizons Counseling Service Foundation, Inc. in Charleston. One of its main objectives is to reach out to help at-risk young people. Dr. Deidre Moss-Pinkney, a public school guidance counselor, is the founder and executive director. The guest speaker was Dr. Jonas Gadson, DTM, an expert communication coach in public speaking, corporate trainer, international motivational speaker, and author of eight books. What a powerful message he delivered, “Facing Your Future with a New Focus”! Because this organization has youth at its forefront, his message focused much on what we need to do to help transform them. Dr. Gadson shared this thought-provoking statistic about our youth: they are 25% or our population and 100% of our future. One thing he said that resonated with me is that we all have the 3 Hs: hurts, habits, and hang-ups. That applies to all of us, not just our youth. Then how do we conquer them? Paul stated in his letter to the Romans, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (12:1-2 NIV). Letting the 3Hs control one’s life will deter transformation, and God is not pleased with that. He wants us to be transformed so that we can be holy in our worship. Jeni Baker of the Celebrate Recovery National Leadership team affirms, “Life is filled with hurts and if we don’t authentically walk through them with Jesus, we can develop hang-ups, and those hang-ups can lead to destructive habits.” Getting on a journey to recovery is imminent in order to deal with these three vulnerable wrecks of emotion. Then what must one do to get to this transformation? Inventory your past, which needs to include the good and the bad, done to you and by you. Identify character defects that you must ask God to change. Recognize who you need to forgive or with whom you need to make amends. Take the actions necessary to do so. Finally, spend time daily in self-examination and prayer in order to follow God’s will, and to carry the message to others through word and deed. Going through the necessary process of transformation will then lead you to the Fourth H, which is healing power! If all Christians would do this, imagine what the CHURCH would look like and how many more souls would be saved. To God be the Glory! Always abound in the faith, and never leave home without Him!
