His Footprints, My Heart...

I was going to start a series of posts on my testimony of recent years, but felt led to post this instead. I'm still going to post on my testimony, just not today. Instead, there have been a few verses that have really been speaking to me this week. We had a guest speaker at church this past Sunday morning and he talked about the heart.

"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life," Proverbs
4:23.

"If you say, "But we knew nothing about this," does not
he who weighs the heart perceive it?", Proverbs 24:12a.

"The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his
heart, and the
evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his
heart. For out of
the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks," Luke
6:45.

All of these verses have been tumbling around in my mind this past week and making me ask "what's in my heart?" One's true character is best displayed in two instances:

1. how they react when no one else is around
2. how they react under pressure

Have you ever screamed and thrown your hands up in the air on the freeway when someone cut you off? Have you ever snapped at your spouse (or friend or mother or father or... you get the picture) because of something they said or did? Sure you have. You're human, arent' you? Why did you do it? There are tons of reasons why you could have done that, but most likely, when you get down to the "nitty-gritty" of it, it's because it pricked something in your heart. Face it, a huge amount of what we do or say (if not all of it) is related to the heart, what's in our heart. After all, God says it's the "wellspring of life" and out of it's overflow is what we speak. I'd venture to say that "speaking" doesn't necessarily mean just our verbal words. I think it means our attitudes, our demeaner, our actions.

One of my biggest obstacles is insecurity. I have a hard time believing in myself, and if someone criticizes me or puts me down it chips away at my security, my feelings of self-worth. Kind of funny, but have you ever thought about the fact that our hearts communicate with one another? You know, someone's upset about something, there's hurt in their heart. They don't see you struggling in that same area of your life in the same way they are. They say something hurtful, not even stopping to think about how that would make you feel or even stopping to think about the fact that, just because you don't struggle in the way they do, you still have to struggle in a different way. It's what I call the "greener grass syndrome."

The grass is always greener on the other side. Beautiful green grass needs water and fertilizer, and as far as the "grass" of life is concerned, we too often automatically assume that it's been gentle rains and dew in the morning and beautiful sunshine that's grown the grass. Many times it's been torential rains and manure *grin* that's fertilized that grass. We let satan convince us that things are unfair, and that builds up hurt in our hearts. Then we react in ways that we usually regret later on.

So, what's the "cure" cleaning our hearts up? God.

“ But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then
peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit,
impartial
and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of
righteousness. ”
James 3:17,18

If we let God clean our hearts, what is "spoken" out of our hearts will be pure, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. I'm not much of a fighter, I hate conflict and I'm more likely to let someone say something to me or about me and just keep my feelings inside about it. Not necessarily good, especially when I harbor the hurt and resentment in my heart. Eventually it will boil over. But I'm learning (not very quickly, but I'm learning...) that if I give it to God and let Him take care of it, if I sow in peace, I'll "raise a harvest of righteousness."

So now you know one of the things I've been struggling with lately. How about you? What song is in your heart these days? Is it "I Know the Peace Speaker" or is it "Gloom, Despair, and Agony On Me?"

At 3:36 PM,  Darlene Schacht said...

Cindy, I'm the same as you. I keep things inside where they brew until I boil over or just get stressed out.

I need to learn your lesson.

 

At 3:58 PM,  Cindy-Lou said...

Darlene,
Oh, I'm sorry... did I give the impression that I've learned it? lol! It's a day-to-day, no more like minute-by-minute, thing ;) But as long as I write it down here, I can come back to it and read it over and over and over.... ;)

 

At 4:20 AM,  Anonymous said...

Cindy, yet again I am here agreeing with you and feeling that same feeling as you.

Though the song in my heart today is:-

The Heart of Worship by Matt Redman - do you know it?

Heart of Worship

Matt Redman

When the music fades and all is stripped away
And I simply come
Longing just to bring something that's of worth
That will bless Your heart

I'll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
Through the way things appear
You're looking into my heart

I'm coming back to the heart of worship
And it's all about You
All about You, Jesus
I'm sorry, Lord, for the things I've made it
When it's all about You
All about You, Jesus

King of endless worth, no one could express
How much You deserve
Though I'm weak and poor, all I have is Yours
Every single breath

 

At 5:42 PM,  Nettie said...

Awesome song Barbara, we sang that in my high school choir. Loved it.

 

At 8:17 AM,  Anonymous said...

The words are so true -

I'm coming back to the heart of worship
And it's all about You
All about You, Jesus
I'm sorry, Lord, for the things I've made it
When it's all about You
All about You, Jesus

The "THINGS I MADE IT"

And the story behind the song too - it is truly awesome as you would say!!

 

At 12:54 PM,  Nettie said...

I saw "Exposure to the Son may prevent burning" on a church sign when I was driving today, and it made me think of you.

 

At 10:26 AM,  Jeff H said...

Well, my first name (Jeffrey) means "gift of God's peace", while my middle name (Louis) means "famous warrior". So, it's no wonder I often feel at odds with myself. Or that I played the role of "peacemaker" in my family for so many years, but now feel led to be a militant Christian in the political arena.

 

At 12:06 PM,  Cindy-Lou said...

Barbara,
I love that song.... it is so true!

Paula,
I think we're all like that ;)
I went to your new "home"... that's great!

Nettie,
That's too cool! Nice to be thought of! Same thing happened to me a while back... I heart "God's Will" by Martina McBride and thought of you!

Jeff,
I hear ya, brother... I was always the "peacemaker" in my family as well. I was always wearing myself out! ;) That's cool about the meaning of your name. Mine is "Moon" (Cynthia) and "Pure" or "Keeper of the keys" (Kay), but I like the American Indian meaning of "Kay" also, "Elder Sister", since I actually AM the elder sister in the fam, and I'm part Cherokee Indian.

 

At 11:54 PM,  Nettie said...

Mine means "waterfall". Actually I've found several intepretations of it, but that's the one I like best. Much better than "idol".

 

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