This morning, I called my older sister.
She couldn’t answer, but she texted me back and said she was at a prayer meeting at her church.
Perfect timing, I thought. Because I had some things on my heart. Some people I love. Some situations I can’t control. So I texted her back and asked her to “throw us on the alter.”
She didn’t notice anything unusual about my message. But I did.
I had meant to type “altar”.
I started to correct myself, but I stopped and looked at the word again.
ALTER.
Then the word I intended:
ALTAR.
One little letter separates them. And suddenly, I wasn’t so sure my typo was completely wrong.
Because isn’t that what we do when life becomes bigger than our own ability to handle it? We take it to the ALTAR because we need God to ALTER something.
We bring our children to the altar because there are decisions we can’t make for them.
We bring our marriages because there are places love alone hasn’t been able to fix.
We bring our finances because sometimes the numbers simply don’t make sense.
We bring our jobs, our dreams, our grief, our fears, our disappointments, our bodies, our families and those situations that have kept us awake far too many nights.
We bring all of it. And we say, “God, I need You to alter this.”
But here’s where surrender gets a little uncomfortable. We usually arrive at the altar with a pretty good idea of “what” we’d like God to alter.
Alter them, Lord.
Alter that situation.
Alter these circumstances.
Alter this bank account while You’re at it.
And sometimes He does.
Sometimes God alters the circumstances. Sometimes He alters the timing. Sometimes He alters the direction.
Sometimes He alters a relationship, opens a door, closes another one, moves somebody, restores something, removes something or makes a way we couldn’t see coming.
But sometimes… most times…God alters us.
He alters our perspective. Our priorities. Our expectations. Our attitudes. Our willingness to wait. Our need to control the outcome.
And perhaps that’s why the altar matters so much. The altar isn’t simply the place where I lay something down and tell God what to do with it.
It’s the place where I surrender it enough to let Him decide what needs altering.
Romans 12:1 tells us to present ourselves to God as a living sacrifice.
Not just our problems. Ourselves.
So this morning, I’m taking my accidental little prayer seriously. I’m putting my “me and mine and all of thine: on the alter.
Yes, I know how to spell it. 😂
I’m putting us on the ALTAR and trusting God to ALTER whatever He knows needs to change.
My family. My circumstances. My plans. My heart.
Me.
Because maybe there really is only one letter between the place where we surrender and the change we’ve been praying for.
If you want God to ALTER it, be willing to put it on the ALTAR.
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Father, today I place myself and everyone connected to me on Your altar. I give You the things I understand and the things I don’t. The situations I can change and the ones completely beyond my reach. Alter what needs to be altered. Change circumstances where it is Your will, open doors that should open and close those that should close. But Lord, if the change needs to begin in me, give me the courage not to climb back off the altar. Change my heart, my thinking, my direction and my desires until they line up with Yours. I surrender the outcome to You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Chelle
Defy Gravity Without Wings ❤️
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