May I confess something to you? I’m a heart-sleeve wearer, and always have been, although my motives have changed over the years. As a teen, I'd share my heart hoping someone would hold my secrets tenderly, love me unconditionally, and promise to protect me forever, which was certainly a by-product of inheriting a legacy of dysfunction. But now, I wear my heart on my sleeve, not because I’m looking for something in return, but because I have something I want to share — a story of God’s amazing, extravagant, wildly transforming work in an ordinary life.

I’m not who I was 20 years ago, when God rescued me from a life destined for destruction, and revealed to me a different way to live. My desire to travel the world and pursue a life of corporate success was laid down in favor of marrying a Christ-with-skin-on type of man who wanted to lead a simple life as a high school teacher and raise a family together.

I’m not who I was nearly 15 years ago, when God poured out His grace in the life of our firstborn daughter — a miracle considering the life I lived during my early college years. God continues to show me evidence of His touch, as I mother all four of our children — but by His grace.

I’m not who I was seven years ago, when God took my mask-wearing, good-girl living and said enough through the words of truth-tellers speaking with love who challenged me to become more than an angry, hurting, yelling mama. It was time to deal with the guilt, shame, bitterness, and unforgiveness that had overtaken my heart and was overflowing hurt onto my family (Ezekiel 36:26).

Even as a passionate go-getter type of woman, with a whole lot of hutzpah as my Jewish grandmother would say, I couldn’t fix my issues on my own. I needed God more than ever before, even for the courage to walk into that counselor’s office. It was there that God showed me how years of Scripture study and wet-eyed prayers were not wasted. He burst forth in me a season of radical healing, as learned how to trap my thoughts, and my memories of the past (2 Corinthians 10:5), and give them over to Him so that He could transform them — and change me — with the truth (Romans 12:2).

I’m not who I was, and I’m not yet all that God has created me to become. I'm work in progress, but that doesn't mean I can't yet tell of His story.

Philippians 1:6 NIV . . . being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

God continues to move His Spirit into untouched places in my heart, as He writes His story of extravagant grace and wild transformation. That’s why I go forth with my heart on my sleeve — not to show how much better I’ve become, but to point to the One who changes lives from the inside out.

I want women to seek God for themselves and to know the impact their changed lives will have on the next generation. {click to tweet}

I’m finally becoming the wife and mom I wanted to be and that’s because of God’s work within my heart, mind, and soul. All that I do is an overflow from what He is doing in me — whether I serve as a mom and wife, as a life coach or mentor, as a writer or speaker, as a ministry leader at More to Be or as I engage with the community right out my back door. It's because of God's changing work in my heart and all for Him to use His way and in His timing.

Friends, I’m hear to say it’s true: When we give God access to our heart and surrender to living in light of the Truth, He will change our thinking and thereby change our living. He will change us from “as is” into that new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) we long to become, so that He can use us to impact this world, starting with our families, for His glory.

Because of Him,

Elisa

moretobe.com & elisapulliam.com

This post is a part of our "Who We Are" Series. For all posts visit,

“Who We Are: The Stories Behind TBM Writers”