"It's a process!"
If I heard it once, I heard it a 1,000 times and every time I cringed. I wanted to be healed. I wanted to be whole. I had been through enough process, now I just wanted a miracle and I held to that for a long time.
God knew and He was gracious. Despite my temper tantrums and anger toward anyone who used the word process, He met me.
He began healing my heart in 2006, it was dramatic and I wasn't quite sure what happened. Over the years He has met me over and over to continue the "process" He started in me.
I pray with great faith for you, because I’m fully convinced that the One who began this glorious work in you will faithfully continue the process of maturing you and will put his finishing touches to it until the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ! Philippians 1:6 TPT (emphasis mine)It does give me great hope and peace to know that He began the "process" and He always finishes what He starts.
Recently I have come to understand more fully the beauty of the heart of flesh and the downfall of the heart of stone.
Last week I sensed so clearly that the Lord was restoring my heart further. During worship one night I heard Him say to me, "A heart of stone ricochets any pain that comes near it and a heart of flesh receives pain as a gift for growth." Powerful words from a loving Father.
He is softening my heart of flesh to look at pain as a gift. Only God! It's been quite a journey. We are at the point now that we have to go deep and sometimes it's painful, but it always bears fruit.
He showed me my Barricaded Heart where I kept it all hidden because if someone knew they might run the other way. I know the feeling of keeping up appearances, so no one will know the level of pain and destruction you carry in your soul. You aren’t fooling anybody. He wants to set you free.
He's addressed my Messy Heart where He showed me I carry things in my heart He never intended me to and how to release that. He showed me how I hide my heart because of the mess and how His plan was for me to let people in, including Him.
Next was my Exposed Heart where He encouraged me to let others in. There was something very freeing about letting people see my mess. I learned nobody really cares about the messy corners of our hearts or our homes. People want to be welcomed into our lives and when we don't try to clean up before they come, they feel like they are home.
I learned about The Desires of My Heart and how delighting in Him was simply yielding to Him and naturally, my desires began to look more like His.
He showed me how to Winterize my Heart to keep it whole and healed for His purposes. He taught me how a little preparation keeps my heart pure, in peace and fixed on Him.
When we focus on Him and all that He is, we cannot be distracted by even the most difficult of seasons. We will hear Him clearer and be more apt to obey when He gives us direction to guide us into a new season. If we continually share what the Lord has done in our hearts and lives we are combating the temptation to be afraid, discontent or frozen in a winter season. It is hard to be fearful when we are recalling what the Lord has done.
You can clearly see, it has been a process. A process of softening my heart of stone, giving my heart opportunity to be fleshy and soft. There was no quick-fix, but a journeying toward a more intimate relationship with Him. When I was thinking about all He'd done I realized, "He heals my broken heart so I can have a more intimate relationship with Him and everything else flows from that."
He is a good, good Father and remains true to His promise to heal the brokenhearted and set the captives free. You might be next, are you willing?
I love the images you use as they perfectly reflect the message. Thank you for sharing your heart so freely.
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