What if change isn't about trying harder? When life brings us to the end of ourselves, God waits there---not to reform our behavior but to excavate our true identity. If you are stuck in a rut of performing and failing, Changed By God is for you. Rather than prescribe ineffective methods for controlling our behavior, this book proposes that change is a God-inspired, God-accomplished feat. Whether or not we are radically transformed in His presence depends on our willingness to yield to His campaign for change, which is based less on our behavior and more on the beliefs driving it. If we want to become the people God created us to be, we must stop trying to fix ourselves, which is God's work, and focus on our part: allowing Him to strip us of everything that contaminates or dilutes the real us. Rather than helping us to be good, this process free us to act like ourselves. Changed By God will take you on a journey of surrender. All you stand to lose is your self-righteous facade, your pursuit of counterfeits, your false identity, your personal strongholds, and your small dreams.
About the Author: Audrey Steele was raised in a loving Christian home. Her religious community was legalistic, so she worked very hard after her conversion at a young age to be a good Christian and earn the right to be called God's child. Eventually, life's difficulties taught her that she was incapable of doing so. While striving worked well in college and in the workplace, it yielded few results on the spiritual plane. Unable to cope with the pain of personal difficulties, she grew tired of wearing her Christian facade. Being a good person was no longer enough. She needed to learn to be the real Audrey. God took her on a journey of growth and recovery. After years of counseling, study, and time in God's presence, Audrey was able to reach a place of peace and restoration. She discovered the joy of stepping into her created identity. It was Audrey's God-sized dream to share her process of healing with others. She began a rough draft in 2012, four years after a difficult divorce and six months before her thirteen-year-old daughter was diagnosed with leukemia. Although Audrey tried to put away her writing during the intense two-year chemo regimen, she was unable to ignore the intensity of God's call to continue working. And so, the first half of Changed By God was written during this difficult time, in moments when God's voice rose above the din of suffering. During the final six months of her daughter's treatment, Audrey was diagnosed with breast cancer. As she underwent mastectomy and chemotherapy, she finished the second half of the book. The words she wrote kept her focused on truth as this trial stretched her beyond her capacity to endure. If you ask Audrey, she will tell you that her book is proof that God does His strongest work through us when we are the weakest. She understands, through experience, that God-empowered change is not just a religious option. It's the only way to move through life's challenges with our faith intact. She knows, intimately, the chaos and the glory of the process of transformation. Because she's been broken and rebuilt by the gentle hands of the Healer, she hopes others will read her words and finally find rest from their own endless, wearying attempts to change. Today, both Audrey and her daughter are in remission. Audrey enjoys life in Colorado as a high school teacher and spends her free time hiking and camping. Her priority and joy is her family.