It is both exhilarating and extremely frightening to delve deeply into the heart. The heart is the center of who we are as people. The heart is rich, fascinating, and deeply complex; very much reflecting the personalities and character qualities displayed external to the conditions of each heart. These characteristics, even tainted by sin, point to the sovereign craftsmanship of our eternal God; they are beautiful, innumerably layered, and inherently flawed.

The complexity of the heart is worthy of exploration for two strong reasons - because it is deep we wish, we desire, we long to explore it, and because the mansion of the heart is home to many rooms or closets we may not even know exist. That is to say, we frequently entertain thoughts of what lurks in the upper levels (or the lower) but cannot be fully convinced of the reality of the joys or the sorrows of what paces above our heads or what treads below our feet in the other levels. Yes, and it is true that many times the realities of what we suspected visit themselves suddenly and with great impact upon the main visiting rooms of this mansion. They leave pixie dust for our encouragement and much mud and muck as well to clean and consider and smell to remember. 

What do we remember after such visits?

That we need more than what we have in the mansion to comprehend the good and apprehend the bad! We are not equipped and cannot learn to be equipped enough to withstand the onslaught of those foul creatures of the lower or to fully appreciate the immense joys born to us from the upper chambers. We are incomplete; unprepared; impossible - without the adoption of the Father God, the atoning sacrifice of the Son, and the teaching and instruction and admonition of the Holy Spirit. 

It is only by these miraculous, undeserved blessings placed lovingly in the home of a redeemed heart that we may ever hope to banish the foul and embrace the fair. It is only through and with the supernatural strength of our patient, loving, gracious God that we may begin to call the chaotic mess that is a human heart a home.

And so gradually we order the mansion as a home - with the mercies of God being renewed to us each morning, and for the glory and fame of the Kingdom of God. It is a joyful burden and a fulfilling responsibility.

The difficulty comes with the consistent and daily living as the caretaker of the heart. It can be the singularly most challenging labor of love anyone ever experiences to live with the inherent flaws of the heart but in the mercy and grace and strength of Christ who wants nothing more than for us to allow Him to build the foundation and order the rooms rather than ourselves. 

The past few days my heart has felt more like a construction site with wrecking ball after wrecking ball tearing through the walls and halls of the rooms I tried to build and fashion on my own strength. It was difficult to watch and it will be even harder to follow each step as a loving Master clears the way for my heart to once again become a home. May it be so only through His grace.

This is the path I have travelled:

- Psalm 42

-1 Corinthians 9:25-27

and, finally:

- Job 1:20-21 (I had no hope of vs. 22)

How then will you live, when your dark silhouette is placed directly up against the brilliant light of His Word?

How will you go? Will you step forward?

Walk with imperfect steps towards the One who is perfect; step with firm conviction so that those who come behind my see the prints and follow them before the rolling tides of the world wash them away…

The words of a master smith:

“I remember reading,

In my room, just reading,

And shutting the book,

And looking up,

And missing you, missing you,

And reading the paper again.

There’s no freedom in it,

Or in fear:

My heart’s not mine.”

~Annie Dillard

“Feast Days”

Tickets for a Prayer Wheel

After driving many hundreds of miles back home to the place of the beginning of my journey, I realized that I am still literally hundreds of miles away from the people that I care about most in life.

My new, dear friends are far away. My family is far away retrieving another family member that is far away. And I am keeping a home on my own that is normally filled with voices and bustlings and the passage of wisps of life flowing by from every corner of each room.

The removal of the things in life that we hold dear is neither an easy weight to hold nor a color that grows warmer with age despite its frequency. Yet, the sovereignty of God makes roaring fires once again from the fading embers of our trials. We are made complete because of His grace, and stronger because of His provision. 

There is nothing that we experience in life that will place us too far away from God’s care and provision and love. 

We…I have such great need of Him, and my encouragement is that He has such great strength and comfort and wisdom.

I cannot stand or hope to stand or even envision standing without being in need of Christ daily and depending on Him for strength.

“So we never got to Venice and strolled the streets alone.”

Maybe someday we will.

But we will certainly, someday, stroll streets of gold. 

Go Deeper. 

Read these few lines. Do something easy. Do something eternal.

Do something - to give back part of what God gave you; to encourage someone else; to raise another’s soul; to show some love to a loveless world - do something.

Go Deeper @ http://laurennicolelove.blogspot.com/2010/06/join-love-bomb-team-now.html

“Go outside, right now, and chase a squirrel, or jump in a puddle, or kick up the autumn leaves.

You didn’t, did you?

But I bet it made you feel good, thinking about doing those things. The internet is magic - it makes us feel involved in life when we’re practically catatonic.

Sometimes you…

Some excellent words of perspective and challenge from a thinker and encourager. Read and do. Don’t you dare not.

“You’re”| the |”needle girl in a haystack world…”

“I think that it’s brainless

to assume that making changes

to your window’s view will give a new perspective..

…the hardest part is yet to come…”