By It is no secret that throughout history God has saved some of the roughest sinners. There is great hope therefore, for any person’s heart to be softened by God. Be it a difficult child, a stubborn family member, a hardened criminal, an arrogant politician, or any other hard heart, God can do the impossible (Luk 18:27).
For example, God saved the pompous pagan King Nebuchadnezzar by humbling him greatly (Dan 4). God saved the persecutor of Christians, Saul, through a radical interruption in his travels (Acts 9:1-5). God saved idol-worshipping Thessalonian citizens when a Jew preached to them (1 Thess 1:9). God saved immoral, homosexuals and thieves in the city of ill reputation by washing them from their sins (1 Cor 6:9-11). God also saved Cretans whose own poets described them as “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons“. What was it that would change a Cretan into a saint? Turning to the Truth, not away from it (Tit 1:12-14).
Keep your own spiritual trajectory toward the Truth, and point others to the Truth. So you will keep your own heart from hardening, and so you will be able to soften even the hardest heart among your friends and family.