When my babies were little, I had three car seats.
When I finally made it out of the door with my overstuffed diaper bag, my three little ones under the age of two (twins!), and my keys, the process of putting them all in car seats began.
Finally I would sit in the driver’s seat, everyone tucked in tight and safe.
There was one more step to take. I reached behind me and pulled my own safety belt to latch it in place.
Wouldn’t it have been ironic to have spent fifteen minutes making certain my little ones were safe, only to have driven out into traffic vulnerable to harm?
And yet we often do just that with our heart.
As we mend, guarding our heart becomes just as vital as tucking in those precious babies into a car seat or buckling your seat belt before pulling out into traffic.
We give our heart significance. It’s worth protecting. It’s worth guarding from those things that once led you into that mess, or that draw you to a place where bitterness desires to take root.
It’s worth pouring in words of healing or affirmation or feeding it with truth of scripture that fills it up until it becomes so saturated that transformation begins in your thinking, or the way you view yourself, or how you find your strength in really hard places.
Today, you are worth guarding, sweet friend. Your heart — and you — matter to God.
Suzie
Q: Proverbs 4:23 says everything that we are pours out of our heart. What might that look like for you?
Q: In what ways do you protect or guard everyone else, but fail to guard or protect you?
This is going to seem almost silly, but will you do it with me? Write a note to your heart today offering to protect it. Make a promise to treat it as if it were significant. Sign it, and tuck it somewhere in your journal.
Heart,
Today I commit to protect you. To make purposeful decisions about what I watch, what I read and what I spend my time listening to or thinking on. I will only feed you only what is good and helpful.
Me
Dear Heart, you are worth guarding diligently, and I know just how vulnerable you are. I commit to feed you a steady diet of truth through out the day, to guard your “eyes” from that which would lure you away from your Center, and to strengthen you by choosing right one step at a time, over and over and over.
Hi Suzie,
I had a chance to read your last two blogs and I relate to this in your last post:
“It’s almost like sitting across from our Heavenly Father to grieve what should have been.”
I needed to hear this as I am going tonight to celebrate a friend who recently lost her battle to breast cancer. Instead of allowing my sorrow to unearth every hurt or fear in my past and grieve places God has already healed, I choose to guard my heart and agree with God that this is not what he intended or should have been. My heart is worth guarding and I think it will free me up to celebrate my friend and her love for Jesus. Thank you for the timely encouragement.
For a long time I thought building walls meant that I was protecting my heart. It only kept God’s love along with everyone else’s out. So today I vow to protect my heart with the word and the love of God because He is my shield and buckler.
Today I commit to put more of your word in my heart and listen to Christian music only and watch what I read. I vow to do everything for your glory every day