It’s a Sunday morning, or maybe a quiet Tuesday at your kitchen table, and suddenly the air feels different. You can't quite put a finger on it. There’s this internal shift—a quiet, humming realization that god is doing something wonderful in me. It isn't always a lightning bolt. Sometimes, it’s just the absence of an old anxiety or a sudden, strange ability to forgive someone who never even said they were sorry.
People talk about spiritual growth like it’s a linear climb up a mountain. It’s not. It is messy. It’s a series of internal renovations where the walls are torn down before the new paint goes up. Honestly, when we say "wonderful," we often mean "comfortable," but spiritual transformation is rarely comfortable at the start. It's deep work.
The Science and Soul of Internal Change
What’s actually happening when you feel this shift? Psychologists often talk about "Post-Traumatic Growth" or "Positive Disintegration." Dr. Kazimierz Dąbrowski, a Polish psychologist, argued that tension and anxiety are actually necessary for personal growth. He believed that for a person to reach a higher level of development, their old personality structures had to literally fall apart.
When you feel like god is doing something wonderful in me, you are likely experiencing a spiritual version of this. The old ways of reacting—the hair-trigger temper, the need for validation, the constant "hustle culture" mentality—start to feel heavy. They don't fit anymore.
- You find yourself staying silent when you used to argue.
- Gratitude starts to feel like a reflex rather than a chore.
- The "noise" of the world feels further away.
This isn't just "vibes." Research from the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley shows that spiritual practices and a sense of divine connection can physically alter the brain’s neural pathways, specifically increasing gray matter in the prefrontal cortex. That’s the part of your brain responsible for emotional regulation and decision-making. So, when you feel "wonderful," your brain might actually be rewiring itself for peace.
Why We Fight the "Wonderful" Work
It sounds weird to say we fight something good. But we do. We’re humans; we love our ruts. We love the predictable misery of our old habits because at least we know how they end.
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When things start changing internally, it can be terrifying. You might lose interest in friendships that were built solely on complaining. You might feel a call to change your career or move to a new city. This is the "messy middle" of spiritual transformation. St. John of the Cross called it the "Dark Night of the Soul," though that sounds a bit more dramatic than what most of us face daily. For us, it’s more like a "Persistent Tuesday of Uncertainty."
I remember talking to a friend who recently went through a massive life upheaval. She kept saying, "I feel like I'm losing myself." I told her, "Maybe you're just losing the version of yourself that wasn't working." A few months later, she called me back. She didn't sound like the same person. She was calmer. She was present. She finally understood that god is doing something wonderful in me meant she had to let go of the "old me" first.
Recognizing the Signs of a Divine Shift
How do you know it’s actually happening? There are specific markers that show up when your spirit is being renovated. It’s rarely about money or external success—though those can happen. It’s almost always about character.
A New Kind of Silence
Most of us are terrified of being alone with our thoughts. We scroll. We listen to podcasts at 2x speed. We drown out the quiet. But when a deep work is happening, the quiet becomes an invitation rather than a threat. You start to crave those moments of stillness because that's where you hear the "still, small voice" that Elijah talked about in the Bible.
The Death of the "Victim" Narrative
This is a big one. It's hard to hear, but many of us build our entire identities around what has been done to us. When grace starts moving in your life, that narrative starts to dissolve. You stop seeing yourself as a collection of wounds and start seeing yourself as a vessel for something bigger. You realize that your past doesn't define your capacity for joy.
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Unexpected Empathy
You’ll be in traffic, someone will cut you off, and instead of the usual internal monologue of creative insults, you just... think they might be having a bad day. It’s a small thing, but it’s actually a miracle. That shift from judgment to empathy is a hallmark of divine influence.
The Role of Trials in the "Wonderful" Process
We have to talk about the hard stuff. It’s easy to say god is doing something wonderful in me when you’re on vacation or your bank account is full. It’s much harder when you’re in the middle of a health crisis or a breakup.
But look at the natural world. A diamond isn't formed during a spa day; it’s formed under crushing pressure. A seed has to literally "die" and crack open in the dark, cold dirt before it can become a tree. If you feel like you are in the dark right now, you aren't buried. You're planted.
James 1:2-4 in the New Testament (a classic text for a reason) suggests that trials are the very tools used to make us "mature and complete, not lacking anything." The "wonderful" part is the end result—the resilience, the depth, and the unshakeable peace that comes from surviving the fire.
Practical Ways to Cooperate with the Change
You can’t force this process, but you can certainly get in the way of it. If you want to lean into what’s happening, you have to be intentional.
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- Stop over-explaining yourself. When you change, people will notice. They might ask why you're being "different" or "weird." You don't owe everyone a map of your soul. Just be.
- Audit your inputs. If you’re trying to cultivate a "wonderful" interior life, you can't feed your mind a steady diet of rage-bait news and toxic social media. Your soul has a metabolism. Feed it things that are true, noble, and right.
- Practice "Active Waiting." This sounds like an oxymoron. It means doing the next right thing while trusting that the bigger picture is being handled. Wash the dishes. Send the email. Be kind to the barista. Let the big stuff unfold in its own time.
- Write it down. Get a cheap notebook. Write one sentence a day about where you saw a glimpse of grace. Over six months, you’ll have a record of a transformation you might have otherwise missed.
Living the "Wonderful" Reality
Ultimately, this feeling—this conviction that god is doing something wonderful in me—is about alignment. It’s when your will and a higher will finally stop fighting and start dancing. It’s the realization that you are loved not for what you do, but for who you are.
It’s not a destination. You don't "arrive" at being wonderful. It’s a continuous unfolding. Some days you’ll feel like you’ve taken ten steps back, and that’s okay. Grace is a safety net, not a tightrope.
Next Steps for Your Journey
To truly lean into this season of growth, start with a 48-hour digital fast. Turn off the notifications that keep your nervous system in a state of fight-or-flight. During this time, spend at least twenty minutes in total silence each morning—no music, no prayer lists, just sitting in the presence of the Divine. Pay attention to the first "new" thought that enters your mind during this quiet; it’s often a clue to the specific area where the "wonderful" work is currently focused. Finally, identify one person you have been holding a grudge against and consciously release the "debt" they owe you. This act of forgiveness is the quickest way to clear the path for the transformation already trying to take root in your life.