A Captured Heart

My heart is captured and awakened to new love daily

With the intent that it falls ever more closely in line with yours

To know and to love you would take a lifetime of searching

But it is one for which I am presently engaged and seeking

May I always find you when I search you with all my heart

For you and you alone can guide me, my Lord and my God

                I often wonder what our relationship to God would look like, if we sought Him with all of our heart. Jeremiah 29:11 is a very well-known passage, because it speaks to people with the hope of God’s foresight and blessing upon Israel, and in turn their lives: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” But, an even deeper impression of the passion that should invade our lives as lovers of the Lord is verse 13: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” In the seeking-with-all-your-heart action, there is a promise from the Lord in verse 14: “‘I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and will bring you back from captivity.’”

The Lord, whether it is obvious or not, is speaking to Israel through the prophet, but it conveys to us a sense of God’s extremely passionate desire to reconnect with His people! This is a message that is written over and again in the Scriptures as God continually tries to reconnect to His people, His creation. He desires a relationship with His people that ties into our DNA as humans. We are designed to seek after Him, but we are also endowed with the free will to reject or ignore that calling. Thus, as one reads the words of the prophet, it can be clearly seen that God is encouraging a two-way relationship, one that involves the entire heart (and soul and mind and strength if you look more broadly at the Scriptures!).

With that said, in what ways are your passion, devotion, and heart for God being daily awakened to new love? If your relationship feels empty and without substance, then I encourage you to consider the poem above and pray for a renewed zeal for our Lord and our God.

A Book of One Thousand Pages

I saw an interesting quote, today, and it started me thinking about life events that we encounter every day.

"Life is a book and there are a thousand pages I have not yet read." - Anonymous

True. At least it's true in the metaphorical sense. However, my mine was percolating on this idea while I had another conversation about the troubles that people face as we go through counseling and helping people.

Imagine, if you will, the woman who has been left by her husband of 10 years. They have children together. The husband didn't leave her for a younger woman, but rather her best friend. Each decision, each birthday party, each present will now be split between two divided houses, encouraging the children to begin choosing sides based on which parent gives them the most. This woman has no one to comfort her or warm her at night, no one to dry the tears of her shattered and wounded heart, and no one to hold things together when she loses all hope in her broken world. Her pages are full of mystery, burdens, heart-ache, and stress, but so many people will never get a chance to read them.

Consider, if still willing, the child who has been beaten every other night for the last two years. There is no safe space in her home, because every hiding spot has been found and every dark corner has been creeped upon. When she goes to school, she lingers at the teacher's side, because she knows that there is a 50/50 chance that she will be beaten as soon as she gets back into her father's truck. Each of the adults that she has shared her story to has brought even more misery when the report reaches back to her father. Her pages are filled with darkness, broken bones, and a wounded spirit, but she goes unnoticed by everyone around her.

Again, think of the teen who has been emotionally abandoned by his parents, since they were too busy to give him the time of day. He fills the void of his time with drugs and pornography, seeking to find anything that will satiate his un-ending appetite for warm love and the soft touch of kindness. Each time that he seeks to build a new connection, he repeats his failure to communicate well. He is left behind the group, with a lack of social skills that will bring him into inclusion. His pages are ripped, torn, and stained with ugly fears that he cannot leave behind.

There are so many pages that have been left unread. And, what's more, we purposefully leave the book on the shelf. It becomes easier to ignore the book and the hundreds of pages of hurt, distress, and pain, because  we only like the remaining ones of joy and peace and prosperity.

And, lastly, consider this final quote with me, which comes from Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus (2:1-10 NIV).

"As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

There are so many pages that have yet to be filled with hope, love, and the grace of our Lord, Jesus, the Christ! We are challenged to live through faith in Him, because He heals broken hearts, He loves immeasurably more than we could ever contain, and He touches those in need of salvation. We are not promised a life without pages of brokenness, but we are called to a life that shares hope and love to those who are in need. Reach out to those around you this week. Don't let any opportunity to help the broken-hearted, because they require Christ just as much as you did. Pull that book off the shelf, and start writing about the merciful Lord, our Savior.