A Life in Exile

For many who live in lands not their own, there is a piece of equipment that proves invaluable. Without it, we could not use our favorite appliances brought from home.

It’s called a transformer.

For those moving from lands of 110 to 220 volts, the transformer ramps down the current to keep coffee makers, blenders, and other assorted machines from blowing up—or at least burning out.

To those who come to the lowly 110 lands, a transformer can have the opposite job, boosting volts to make appliances used to more power be properly juiced.

When not in use, it’s a big, heavy paperweight.

Why do I speak of this hunk of metal today? A recent picture from friends settling into their new land brought back so many memories of the transformers that my late husband and I accumulated over our twenty years overseas. We had small ones, medium-sized ones, and even some huge ones that he used for his power tools. So, I guess you could say, similar to the Bionic Man, our home was powered by Transformer.

Did we bring those transformers back to the States when we returned for the final time? No, because for the first time in a long time, our power supply met our power needs. It didn’t overwhelm or go erratic on us (a voltage regulator was yet another piece of equipment); no, the voltage required equaled the voltage provided.

I like to think of the Holy Spirit as my Transformer.

I’m so prone to live a low-voltage life—lazy in my ways, oblivious to the needs around me—then the Spirit gets ahold of me, when I take the time to “plug him in,” and everything changes! I’m more alert to his prodding me forward toward Christlikeness. I have higher sensitivity to see the people around me who are seeking or hurting. I’m emboldened in my witness and energized for service.

That’s until there’s a short in my system or power is cut.

That’s what moves me to get back into the Word and prayer. Reading and hearing the Words of God through study and fellowship restore lost connections and let the Transformer do his work in me.

Cross-cultural service can make our spiritual voltage extremely erratic if we let it.

Just doing everyday tasks can drain us physically and spiritually. Working with a people who are resistant to the Gospel can also take its toll. Meeting the needs of others, when working with refugees or in high-poverty areas, can make our own needs rise to the surface. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit has a built-in voltage regulator. He is not only transforming us, filling us with his power, but he’s helping us to maintain balance in life as well. Sometimes that comes with moving us to just rest, take a break, or step back for a season.

Do you have a transformer in your house? Thank God for the amazing people who invented it and produced it.

Are you aware of your need for the Transformer in your life? Call on him today to boost your spiritual voltage to God’s glory and for his purposes.

Grace and Peace