A little history about me- I was born and raised in New York, but I grew up in California. New York, also known as the “Concrete Jungle,” was a tough place to live in, or at least where I lived. We always had to be alert and guarded all of the time. In order to defend and protect myself and/or my sister when we had to go to school, I had to be hard. I had to look tougher than I actually was and I eventually became tougher than I needed to be. In order to manage the divorce and drama at home, I had to be hard to get through the rough times. This seemed to be the way to live life in New York.
When I got to California, everything was so different. When I got into relationship with God while here, it made me see how much I needed healing. I realized that I had layers and layers of hardness, trying to keep pain out and letting no one in. I had high expectations of people and little to no expectation of God. When I let not just the change of scenery become part of me, but also allowed the change of my heart with God, change was able to happen within me. It wasn’t overnight, and is an ongoing process, but my heart has been different ever since. Life became more enjoyable to live.
In the medical world, a hard heart means that the muscle of the heart gets thicker, making it hard to pump blood to the rest of the body. This is obviously dangerous as this put’s life at risk. Hardened arteries (blood vessels) are also dangerous as they can stop the flow of blood throughout the body and can cause heart attacks or stroke. Having a hard heart is not the business. So what do we do if we have one?
The beauty of God is that He gives us hearts of flesh and takes our hearts of stone and then puts His Holy Spirit inside of us. We do not have to stay hard for anything. God knows what you have been through. Are you willing to trust Him with your heart now? There is joy to be had, peace to dwell in, rest for our souls and minds to enjoy. Let’s examine our hearts today for any hardness and let’s bring it God, identify what has made us hard, and listen to Him lead you through what to do to receive healing.
“A tenderhearted person lives a blessed life; a hardhearted person lives a hard life.” Proverbs 28:14 MSG
