It's just a humble little house in the country, but it had been a dream of a friend of ours for years. Actually, it was her grandparents' house most of her life. She lived just down the road from them as a child and she spent many hours and made many memories in that little place. After Grandma and Grandad died, her dad owned the house. But by then he lived four hours away, so he just rented it out for years. It never was a great house but it really fell apart over the last few years; holes in the roof, fleas in the carpet, critters invading the house through its many holes, rotting wood and deterioration.

Our friend's dream had been that someday she might be able to get her hands on that house she loved and make it into something. She got her chance. Her dad deeded the house to our friend and her sister and this past summer they teamed up to make it a neat little place in the country. She put on a full court press to get all those holes fixed, to replace things that were rotting or infested or worn out and she started to put her wonderful creative and beautifying touches to work to make it a special little spot.

Another friend who used to go by once in a while when it was still rented confided to her how he felt about the house, "This place was a dump. I thought it should be bulldozed." He doesn't think that now. He was very impressed with what that dump had become.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Power to Change."

All those years our friend had been seeing that house deteriorate and she just kept waiting for a day when it might be hers and she could take what had become a mess and make it into something beautiful. What she did for a house, Jesus does for people's lives. Maybe yours.

Our word for today from the Word of God in 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" A new creation. There was an amazing change that took place in that house that was going straight downhill when someone who loved it finally was allowed to have it.

And I've seen that same miracle take place so dramatically in human lives, when a life that was getting more and more damaged was finally turned over to Jesus Christ. And He has lovingly gone to work to repair what looked "unrepairable" and to fix what looked unfixable to forgive what seemed unforgivable and to make a person into a new creation.

It could be that you're in the market now for a re-creation miracle of your own. Things have been under your management for a long time. And maybe from the outside things look pretty good. But inside, there's a lot you're tired of. You're tired of ending up lonely, you're tired of your dark side winning, maybe the anger has done enough damage, the selfishness, the habit you have never been able to shake.

It could be that over the years you've accumulated more stress and more pain than you can handle anymore. Or more guilt than you can deal with anymore. Whatever the damage that's accumulated during the years when you've been running things, there is Someone who has loved you all along who's been saying all these years, "If only you would let Me have your life. I could do with it what you've never been able to do." Think about it. The Son of God promises to make you a new creation, the old you behind you, a new beginning.

All these years there's been a dark, destructive force inside, keeping you from becoming the person you really want to be. It's called sin. Sin Jesus took on Himself when He died on the cross for you. You can't be your own Savior. Only Jesus can be that. But He won't force His way in. He starts the forgiving, the healing, the re-creating the day you open the door and say, "Jesus, this place isn't mine anymore. It's Yours." That wonderful new beginning could be this very day for you if you're ready for the Savior to become your Savior and you tell Him that right now

Our website is there to help you get this done. I hope you'll go there - ANewStory.com.

There's so much Jesus has been wanting to do in your life but your life has never belonged to Him. Until today. You're going to be amazed at the change.