Wandering Heart

O to grace how great a debtor

Daily I’m constrained to be!

Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,

Bind my wandering heart to Thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,

Prone to leave the God I love;

Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,

Seal it for Thy courts above.

{Robert Robinson, 1758}

Opening my journal I see words scrolled across the page like threads sewn tightly in a desperate attempt to mend, and they pull at the fray of my wandering heart. I shuffled through my book bag in eager search for a pen to write with but all I found was this pencil...

Today I stole a few moments of quiet to read and commune with God. It felt like I was saying to the Lord, “I've missed you,” the way I did with my dear friend this week when we finally got together over coffee.

You can have a friend for only a short time and know she is a kindred soul, a connection that runs deep in the marrow. A friend can be family, the way a name runs through bloodlines and it's written into you.

I think about that, how blood has connected me to my own family, and how the blood of the Lamb has joined me with a new family, not born of my flesh but born of God's spirit; how the blood of our kinsman redeemer was spilled upon a rock, and by that shed blood we are all related, we who believe on his name.

My God and savior restores unto me a rightful place in his kingdom family, and each time I come before the cross I am in the presence of family. So when we are apart, it is not because we have been severed, but it's likely I've drifted for a time.

Day 25 - Work with Heart

 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord...

{Colossians 3:23}

Being a number of days behind on my 31 day writing challenge I was tempted to forfeit the series altogether, when it occurred to me: nothing about the walk with Christ is ever forfeit. We don't take a day off in the life of faith or get disqualified from the race just because of a few interruptions.

Paul was our perfect example of this as he faithfully persevered under persecution, trial, and storm on his way to Rome. He had his eye ever focused on the upward call of God. It seems a rather lofty comparison to make in regard to my humble blogging challenge...But it reminds me that whatever it is God has called me to it is a holy endeavor.

When I was in high school, I participated in much of the campus life such as marching band, drill team, and academic clubs. My free time had a thin margin and I kept very busy participating in these positive outlets. That was good for me because, as is common for teens, I tended to wander into mischief otherwise. To show for my participation I lettered in a few of my activities; so my folks bought me a letterman jacket. On the back of the jacket I had monogrammed the verse Colossians 3:17 to remind myself why I was able to do any of those good things. Sure they were achievements to be proud of, but I wanted to remember that they were gifts from God. We are all given the gift of our work, talents for our labor, that we can use to glorify God with our lives.

Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. (Col 3:17)

In reading the story of creation in Genesis 2, I love the part that specifically states that no plants had grown up from the earth yet because there was not yet a man to cultivate the ground. So God made a man, Adam, and placed him very strategically in the garden we know as Eden. Adam's job, the work which God gifted him to do, was to tend and cultivate the garden. I love that! Adam was given the gift of work, and you can be sure that God endowed him with everything that he needed to do that very special task on the earth. It brought glory to his Maker.

So how about you, what work are you gifted with? Do you write? Let your words be go forth to further the gospel. Do you sing? Let your song bring others into worship. Do you cook? Let it bless others to taste and see that the Lord is good. Let everything you do be as if you are working for the Lord. See it as an opportunity to reawaken to this moment, to do and to be all God has called you to today.

Revive My Heart - Write 31 Days 

Day 24 - Tune My Heart

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

The United Methodist Hymnal Number 400
Text: Robert Robinson, 1735-1790
Music: Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second
Tune: NETTLETON, Meter: 87.87 D

---

1. Come, thou Fount of every blessing,
tune my heart to sing thy grace;
streams of mercy, never ceasing,
call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,
mount of thy redeeming love.

2. Here I raise mine Ebenezer;
hither by thy help I'm come;
and I hope, by thy good pleasure,
safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God;
he, to rescue me from danger,
interposed his precious blood.

3. O to grace how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be!
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here's my heart, O take and seal it,
seal it for thy courts above.

Revive My Heart - Write 31 Days 

 

Day 23 - Heart Story

“Whether or not we see it, we've each been invited to participate in the love story of God. We each have something to contribute. We have good works to live out, deeds prepared a long time ago in a Kingdom close at hand.”

{Jaime George, Poets and Saints}

When was it that I first realized that I was part of a plot line? It was Shakespeare who coined the term, “All the world is a stage.” I remember the passion of reading through literary texts in college ranging from Dante's Inferno to The Confidence Man as well as folklore from around the world.

My journey through literature had brought me along vast terrains. Yet despite the diversity of landscapes, I couldn't help but find a thread of the gospel story weaved throughout cultures, traditions, and worldviews.

I had a professor for a course called Advanced Elements of Argument, who constantly challenged the Christian perspective as we had read through various works. Boldly I returned the challenge, daring him to find the spiritual meta-narrative within the texts. How often one finds it there, between the lines, man's confession of his need for God—no man is set apart from the search for truth and revelation of the divine—not even the atheist.

In everything I have read, I visualize it is as if a large canvas or a tapestry is laid out showing how the God story is interwoven through every narrative. Just as you can see yourself within the pages of a fantastic work of fiction, I began to see myself as a player in the love story of my God.

I realized that I was a character alongside the saints of old; and it changed my perspective on the events of my life. The setting of my terrain appeared to be intentional, planned even, as if a narrator had penciled me in. The conflicts of my story line developed with deeper meaning. The climactic elements, when I found myself treading upon rocky cliffs, gave birth to hope that the story has a purposeful and even prosperous resolution.

Do you know that God's story for you began long before you were born? Since His creation of the first man and woman, God had the most wonderful plan for his children to dwell with him, to live in relationship with him.

The Bible says that God created you in Christ Jesus to do good works—to live your poema—He planned them for you long ago (Eph 2:10). For He who has begun a good work in you will see it through to completion on the day of Christ Jesus (Phil 1:6). He is the author and finisher of your faith (Heb 12:2).

Maybe you feel, because of the chapter you are in (or the one you just came out of), that your story is too much of a mess. But if you have received Christ in your heart then He has already written the rest of your story. God wrote the perfect resolution to the conflict of humanity: Jesus Christ. He has a plan for your story line; everyday is written in His book (Ps 139:16). He's just waiting for you to jump right in.

Will you say yes to God today? Invite Him into your story and watch new miracles unfold.

Revive My Heart - Write 31 Days

Day 22 - Commit the Heart

This year, 2016, can be summed up for me by the word trust. In living it out I have learned that trust looks like surrender: giving up, handing over, letting go.

Giving over the will, the plans, and the desires of the heart means trusting that God not only will make a way but that His way is good. Since the beginning His children have proved that to walk by faith is to have the assurance of things not seen (Heb 11).

This really is at the heart of the righteous. God is good and His love for us is bigger than we could ever imagine (Eph 3:17-19). A heart that knows this can fully surrender to and be abandoned to following after God in every part of life.

God has given each of us a territory, a domain, a terrain, in which we live that has certain boundaries. Right now it may feel like you are wandering through an open land as vast and endless as the desert. Or maybe your domain feels limited by elements outside of your control and you feel confined in some way.

In actuality, if we have put our trust in the Lord, then he is guiding us in the land he has designed for us, maybe even hedging us in so that we keep within the perimeters of his will for our lives. That gives me incredible peace as I place my trust in him.

Everything we do in commitment to Him we can go forward believing that He has our best interest in mind (Jer 29:11). We can trust that He will bring about the purist desires of our heart as we delight ourselves in Him.

Trust in the Lord and do good;

Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.

Delight yourself in the Lord;

And He will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord,

Trust also in Him, and He will do it.

{Psalm 37:3-5}

Revive My Heart - Write 31 Days

Day 21 - Here's My Heart

Here's my heart, Lord
Here's my heart, Lord
Here's my heart, Lord
Speak what is true
{Lauren Daigle}

It's all about surrender, this walk with God.

And the thing about surrender is that it reveals the heart. The bible says that the heart is deceitfully wicked above all else, and we know that it goes back to the root of the first sin. When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit their eyes were opened and they were naked and vulnerable (Gen 3:4-7). Their hearts were exposed.

So I look at this and see that when we come to God, when we turn to Christ, it is painful because we stand before a holy God, naked and vulnerable. Our hearts are exposed and we see our sin for what it is. It is shocking and raw. Surrendering to Jesus brings us to that moment when we see our hearts in the light of God's righteousness. Light pierces through the darkness.

But the moment of surrender brings beautiful transfiguration to our hearts. God is able to revive us, breath life into us, restore us to Him, and remake us into the image of His Son. Surrender begins with acknowledging who we are and who God is. Then we can view ourselves anew in the glorious reflection of Christ.

Lauren Deigle – Here's My Heart

I am found, I am Yours
I am loved, I'm made pure
I have life, I can breathe
I am healed, I am free

Revive My Heart - Write 31 Days

Day 20 - Poured Out

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed...

{2 Corinthians 4:7-9}

There were words...a jar of words, maybe a box full, or even a store house...of thoughts and prayers that needed to be shared, unloaded, poured out for a purpose.

I prayed, Lord, take these gifts for your kingdom. In exchange He gave me pain and loss. He gave me grief and loneliness. He brought me through the desert to face impossible things.

Then he sent community. He gave me a kindred-spirit friend. She told me I had a message to share. There were those who were searching and hoping. And I had all these words in my hands.

He taught me confidence in him, not in me. He told me to write and to share, to be vulnerable and free. So I did. I wrote and shared and I wept and prayed.

Then he gave me servant-hood. He taught me love for the unlovable. He humbled me, least I forget that I am just me. He guided me on a path of peace.

He gave me intimacy in friendships, mentors, and opportunities to lead. Though I wanted to pull back into the the shadows, he brought me into his glorious light. He gave me a platform and a voice.

And though I trembled, he steadied my feet as I walked along. But I looked at the the beautiful load and I struggled to pick it up. I began to strive and stumble and bend. So he broke me.

He brought loneliness, uncommon-ness, and vulnerability. I faced myself in the mirror and knew it deeper still. I am just me. But He is he. And he is enough.

He takes my not enough and fills it up with his enough-ness. He fills me with living water so that I may be poured out.

I am not a water tank to store up good treasures and keep them to myself. He made me to be a vessel that pours not stores. I am a conduit. Let him flow.

Revive My Heart - Write 31 Days

Day 19 - Open Heart

"Behold, I stand at the door [of the church] and continually knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him (restore him), and he with Me."

{Revelation 3:20-21 AMP}

Yesterday I posted about having guarded hearts Vs. guarding our hearts. We reflected on what it might mean to guard our hearts for Christ while tearing down the walls we've build around them. How having an open heart means letting in true joy, and I will add, freedom.

A friend responded so beautifully with this prayer,

"Lord, I pray for all the people reading this post, that they would have the ability to break down walls with unlovable people. Strengthen them to feel your love so that when they are wounded by others, they are not destroyed. Help them to love with no expectation of being loved back. Because Lord, You loved us even while we were still in our trespasses and sins. May we have the strength to do this. Amen!" {Susan Evans}

And today, this extraordinary piece pops up on my computer screen, and I am blown away! This is so powerful. Listen to Hosanna's spoken word performance of "Knocking..." A piece about letting God into our walls...

Hosanna Poetry- "Knocking"

Revive My Heart - Write 31 Days
 

Day 18 - Guard My Heart

Watch over your heart with all diligence,
For from it flow the springs of life.

{Proverbs 4:23}

The other day I wrote about being refreshed by God's unfailing love, and in that post I decided to focus on doing ten things this week that bring me joy. So I posed the question to my friends on social media, “What are 10 things that bring you joy when you do them?”

Their answers varied, although every list had one special thing in common that my friends said brings them joy. Essentially, it is doing something for others that in turn brings them joy. Whether it is family game night, baking with our kids, volunteering in the classroom, serving in the nursery, or surprising a friend with a gift on their doorstep, the fullest way to bring joy into our lives is to bring it to others.

I thought about how that idea had made its way onto everyone's lists. Bringing joy to others. And I thought about how easy it is to actually do the opposite. Don't we often tend toward doing the thing that feels good to us? Isn't it human nature to do what is good for us sometimes at the expense of others?

Sometimes it feel easier to guard ourselves against others because we want to protect ourselves. Maybe for fear of being hurt, rejected, or taken advantage of. I read this quote recently: "Being afraid of wounds from other people might cause us to forfeit the capacity to love." (Read it here) 

But when we are guarded we unknowingly shut out the very people God has sent to show us his love. Instead of guarding our hearts against evil, we erect walls around ourselves, making enemies of those whom God intends for us to love.

Yet, in my friends' responses I was seeing the proof that joy is manifest in our lives when we open ourselves up to others. God never designed us to keep his love to ourselves. Love is relational, it must be shared. So when we live by God's design in sharing love, then we fulfill the law of Christ (see Gal 6:2).

Guarding your heart means you give over your worries and cares to God and receive his peace (Phil 4:7). It means you put on your spiritual armor against evil that tries to steal your faith and joy (Eph 6:16). Guard your heart against the things that set themselves up against the knowledge of God's love: like pride, self-pity, worry, or mistrust. Guard your heart because it belongs to Christ.

I don't know about you, but I am ready for more authentic relationships, no guards up. Are you ready to tear down the walls that keep you from receiving true joy and love? Let's be willing to be honest and vulnerable, open to listen and receive others. When we do we give ourselves the opportunity to give love and joy in return.

Revive My Heart - Write 31 Days 

Day 17 - Keep My Heart

Kari Jobe - Keeper Of My Heart

 

Psalm 121

I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From where shall my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
He will not allow your foot to slip;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, He who keeps Israel
Will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun will not smite you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
The Lord will protect you from all evil;
He will keep your soul.
The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in
From this time forth and forever.

Prayer

O, Lord, maker of heaven and earth. We put our trust in you. Keep us and guide us, be our ever present help in time of need. Lead us in all our ways. Let our hearts not be troubled by the trials of this life, nor faint because of evil. We put our trust in you. We look forward expectantly, with glad anticipation, looking toward the day of your return, King of Heaven, keeper of our hearts. Amen.

Revive My Heart - Write 31 Days

Day 16 - Refresh My Heart

Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls;
All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me.

{Psalm 42}

Life is lived in practicalities. Each day we must go about our daily work dealing with matters of life. It makes one thirsty for tender moments of worship when the Lord's presence is most felt. When your heart is turned toward God in focused devotion you may feel like nothing in the world could remove the joy and pleasure of His presence.

As the deer longs for streams of water,
    so I long for you, O God.
I thirst for God, the living God.

Yet in the living of a day, we can easily get weighed down by trials, conflicts, illness, and the mundane work of our hands. This is why Mondays feel so Monday-ish and Fridays feel like freedom. God's design for a Sabbath is essential to recharge our energy banks and renew the courage of our hearts.

Why am I discouraged?
    Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God!
    I will praise him again—
    my Savior and my God!

Reading Psalm 42 reminds us that the conflicts we face are part of this life, but our source of refreshment and renewal comes from the Lord. He alone can satisfy the longing of our hearts and nourish our parched souls.

But each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me,
    and through each night I sing his songs,
  praying to God who gives me life.

Come to the streams of water. Be refreshed by God's love, let it wash over you. We can tell our hearts to beat again. This week we can practice some practical ways to receive refreshment and revive our hearts in the middle of the mundane.

I saw this journal prompt, and I think it is a good place to start: Journal about 10 things that bring you joy when you do them.

Here are my ten things. I'm going to make it my goal to do a few of them throughout the week.

1. Worship
2. Time with family
3. Coffee/tea with friends
4. Reading for enjoyment
5. Writing in my journal
6. Playing music
7. Dance/exercise
8. Outdoor adventures
9. Baking with my daughter
10. Create pleasant surroundings (tidy up, light candles, seasonal decorations, etc)

What are 10 things that bring you joy when you do them? Maybe you can make it a goal for your week to do a few of these things, and tell your heart to beat again.

I'd love to hear about a few of the things that bring you joy. Please share with us in the comments below!

Revive My Heart - Write 31 Days

Day 15 - Giveaway

As a way to say thanks to all you loyal readers who have been following my series Revive My Heart, I am giving you a gift! Here is a chance to win $100 to use however you wish for merchandise at DaySpring (preferred partner of the Write 31 Days challenge).

Thank you for reading the Revive My Heart series on Grace Narratives! Please join me for the rest of October for more of this 31 day series on the heart.

Love,

Janette McLaughlin 

You are invited to enter to win a $100 DaySpring gift card! That means a $100 shopping spree with DaySpring! Enter to win before October 28th! 
Rafflecopter Giveaway!

Day 14 - Restore My Heart

Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying,

yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. 

{2 Corinthians 4:16}

Sitting at our family dining table with my computer, I have a limited perspective. Outside my large picture window a flock of ravens flies over the roof tops. The sycamore is turning it's leaves, just a sprinkle of golden and amber showing through. All around me the outward life is in a cycle of decadent decay.

Outside of your four walls, even through the virtual looking glass of the internet, you can see that outwardly the world is experiencing a new level of disorder. But if we are believers in Christ, then we trust that God is restoring the hearts of His people.

Weeks ago I wrote about “all things new” (Rev 21:5), sharing the eternal promise of renewal.

When it seems like all hope is lost, God is in the business of restoration. He is renewing broken hearts, restoring relationships, reviving your spirit. He is not content with leaving us as we are. He is always in the work of creation, recreating and remaking us through His Son.

Restoration comes in the form of struggle and change. For some of us that means we are moving into new things. Change comes with sacrifice, and where there is change there is loss. But in God's kingdom change also means renewal. The old has gone; the new has come (2 Cor 5:17).

In the book of Genesis we read the beginning of God's story for mankind. I believe as we look at the creation of the first man and first woman, we can find ourselves in that story. We can see ourselves as miracles of God's creative hand, objects of his love and affection. He designed the earth with a purpose, for us to live with him and experience relationship with him.

When sin separated man from his God, even then it was not the end. Our past sins do not remove us from God's love. Our relationship is restored by Christ's death and resurrection. When we receive Jesus we become part of him, renewed by his blood, revived by his Spirit, restored by his love.

In the beginning, the creation story reveals God's character as our good Father and it reveals our position as his children. We were made to be loved. That is our purpose. Loved is who we are. God is waiting for you to invite him into your story; He has already made you part of His.

So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever. {2 Cor 4:16 The Message}

Revive My Heart - Write 31 Days

Day 13 - Search My Heart

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Test me and know my anxious thoughts

{Psalm 139:23}

The sun had not emerged yet, and I was fumbling for a cup of coffee when I heard her crying out again. Okay. But first coffee. With a cup full of brave, I walked down the hall to peek in her door and found her curled up in a ball on the bed.

My daughter had been sick with a fever for several days. This bug was hangin' on like a flea on a hound. Sweet girl had been enduring and fighting it like a Jedi warrior (light saber and all—true story). But I can't say I handled it so well with that nagging fear always nipping at a mother's heals when her little lamb is ill.

Day 12 - Limitations

The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a purpose.

William Cowper 1731-1800

Do you ever feel limited by your circumstances? Many of us may feel called to some greater purpose but have experienced the confinement of our limitations. But how many of us, despite the things that limit us, feel truly free to live within God's purpose for our lives?

I am reading the book Poets & Saints, by Jaime George (click here). In it George highlights the story of John Newton, former slave trader turned pastor, who penned the famous lyrics of “Amazing Grace” in 1773.

Day 11 - Blind Faith

My big brother is like my hero. When we were kids he was a self taught drummer. I thought he was a rock star. He was good at art, cycling, building, you name it. I also believed that my brother knew it all (so did he). I still think he knows a lot and he has a great deal to share from a godly perspective. So it is a privilege and a joy to share a bit of his wisdom in this guest post by my dear brother.

 

Blind Faith: Lessons from a Blind Boston Terrier

Guest post by, Jonathan Van Sice

I was spending this past Mother’s Day with my sister and brother-in-law at his folk's house. My sister's dog, a Boston Terrier, recently lost his eye sight, but he’s adjusted well to being blind. Early on in his blindness he stumbled about and struggled to move around the house. But now that he’s been blind for some time, he’s become used to coexisting with people, more specifically his family.

Day 10 - Trust

Letting go of every single dream

I lay each one down at Your feet

Every moment of my wandering

Never changes what You see

{Lauren Daigle}

One year ago, I sat in this same spot typing away heart and soul for my first ever 31 day writing challenge. And challenge it was, coming right smack at the beginning of a life-sized trial. My husband and I had just experienced the direct outcome of a downsized economic crisis. His career took a sudden turn after eleven years in the same position; and before we knew it we were unemployed.

As we walked into a desert season, the Lord used people to encourage and pray for us. God was faithful to meet us each day with scripture, a song, or gifts from friends. Although I was writing a lot initially, I found it difficult to pen what was happening in our story. When you're going through treacherous terrain, it is impossible to see the forest despite the trees. Everywhere you look towering obstacles surround on all sides.

Day 9 - Belief

Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.” {Matt 14:28}

What would it took like if you invited the Lord to write your story? Are you ready to wake up to the purpose and calling God has put on your life? What if you took off the shackles of shame and busted down the boundaries of your past and took a step toward Jesus?

I loved the boldness of these questions being asked of us woman at the conference I attended this weekend.

When you're sick and tired of the lies being sold about who you are...When you're ready to own the truth of who God says you are and you're ready to live like you believe it... “Jesus bid me to come.”

Day 8 - Breakthrough

May you have a strong sense of the impossible things God wants to do in, through, and around you. May God's dream for you swallow up your unbelief! May you have faith enough to put out your buckets and prepare for rain. God moves on faith. May He move mightily because of yours. May you live with open-handed wonder today, because you KNOW that God is up to something good. 

--Susie Larson, “Daily Blessing: Prepare for Breakthrough”

This weekend I was blessed to participate in a life changing event with guest speaker Susie Larson. If you haven't had the blessing of reading any of her books, take a moment visit her website here. I promise you will find the power of freedom and redemption for your story.

Day 7 - Brokenness

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

{Psalm 51:10 AMP}

Does it feel like it's coming at you from all sides lately? Yeah...I get that. It's no secret that we're living in a broken world. So far from the perfection of The Garden that all of creation is aching to be reborn. When it seems like we're all being emptied of the stuff that matters, it has me craving more of God to fill in the blank spaces of my heart.

Jesus puts it so simply in his Sermon on the Mount. Yet it shall take me a lifetime finding it out. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” {Matt 5:6NIV}

Why brokenness? Why does following Jesus mean pain along the way? These are the honest questions of the brokenhearted.