In my website Journey Well: Heart, Body & Soul, I address 3 distinct areas of transformation. Why? I have been blessed with impactful experiences in each area.
Plus, I have a passion for making the path a bit easier for those coming behind me. I am not the expert, but I may be just a little further down the way than some.
But the most amazing thing is that when you bring healing to one of these 3 areas of your life, it automatically begins to spill over and improve all the rest! I have observed that, repeatedly.
Henry Blackaby caught me off guard with this statement in a recent devotional – “No amount of activity for God will ever take the place of a heart that is right with Him.”
OK, I get it – but then I, of course, started thinking “Is my heart right with Him?” and, sure enough, I went to ‘activities’! I go to church, do good deeds, have daily Bible study (ok, almost daily), pray regularly (in fact, some days it is a constant activity), clamp shut my mouth when I am about to release a “snarky” comment in the wrong setting, etc. ALL of these are activities.
So, what gets a heart “right” with Him?
Blackaby’s words on this were the truth – “His desire is that we devote ourselves to knowing Him and loving Him with all our hearts.”
But take a look at our hearts – especially as we see the chaotic events and divisive things happening in our world and all around us. We “harden” our hearts without even realizing how it creeps up on us. Just as the Israelites hardened theirs – they knew God’s promises to them, knew His word, but they grew apathetic to Him.
Here is where my being a “farmer’s daughter” helps me really understand the scripture –
“Sow righteousness for yourselves and reap faithful love; break up your unplowed ground. It is time to seek the Lord until He comes and sends righteousness on you like the rain.” Hosea 10:12
I remember how hard the farmland was after a winter of rain and snow and wind and tons of sun (West Texas has all these). Packed hard. My dad’s first tractor runs in the early spring had the big plows digging deep in the baked ground completely turning over and breaking clods up into smaller clumps bringing up the soft underbelly of earth in long rows. And later, as weeds became the enemy, he ran the huge cultivator – it had big discs that were sharp and ripped apart the weeds as it tilled the topsoil.
Got me thinking about the plows and cultivators my heart may need. Blackaby reminded me that as “Christians, we must continually cultivate our hearts and minds so that they are receptive to whatever God tells us.”
In explaining why I address the “Heart” section of my site as the photos and stories, here is my reasoning.
The heart is the deep well from which we draw our mental and spiritual health – short & long-term. For many of us, our heart gets renewed and encouraged by our photos showing personal and family stories of blessings, hardships, and obstacles overcome. These “heart conditioning” times are truly outlook-shaping times which are captured and remembered in our albums (in my humble opinion).
I realized something important as I was working on my Life Story album recently. I was going back over the junior high photos – I got glasses in 5th grade, I think, but basketball started in 7th grade. And I LOVED it – poured my heart into it.
And my body, too, I guess, because over the next few years I broke 5-6 pairs of glasses. My dad said I would have to give up basketball because he couldn’t afford it. Little did I realize that he was my biggest fan and would never have stopped me playing – I took him seriously and dissolved into tears and despair.
My mother took me to the optometrist. She asked about something I never knew existed — contact lenses. (we are talking 1960 and they were very new items). He said he would not fit me with them – again, I dissolved into tears. He asked why, and I sobbed out the story of how much I wanted to play basketball but my dad said we couldn’t afford so many broken glasses and wouldn’t let me play.
When he learned that it was not a “vanity” issue but that I was dedicated, he then fitted me with them. (Turns out, he was right about how hard it was to get used to and manage these early lenses –but they worked GREAT during basketball games.)
Plows and cultivators? Turns out these were the photos I was digging out and reviewing – the many “different” pairs of glasses, photos of the basketball team (with glasses and later contacts) and viewing my high school album I kept of newspaper clippings of the games. Some included photos.
It hit me – if you asked me about my relationship with my mother growing up, I would not have said anything fuzzy, warm or very positive. But as I put in my album the positive impact and lessons and my love of playing basketball, it dawned on me. What a blessing my mom had given me in researching, pursuing and getting me fitted with the contact lenses that made basketball so much easier for me. I missed it totally as a kid.
My folks are long gone from this earth, but my heart today needed cultivating, tenderizing, and being less judgmental, for sure. My gratefulness appeared as I was reviewing photos that helped me remember how the Lord has provided for me, even when I was not aware it was happening.
Think about it. December 7 recently was a reminder of Pearl Harbor and the photos and stories that came flowing across our TV screens brought all the memories, lessons and tenderizing that would remind us of the War – the one already raging in Europe and the one we entered as a result.
Now I understand why He impressed me early on in this entrepreneurial adventure with chapter 6 of Deuteronomy where the Lord gave the commands – the ones we are to keep on our hearts, and teach to our children, telling the stories of what God has done. Verse 5 is the key “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”
What photos and stories do you have that are calling for you to dig them out – preserve them in a photobook – write them up – put them into a context and share their impact on you? Plow deep. Cultivate that heart. Don’t delay – He has blessings just waiting for you.
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