Pure Heart Week
(Originally written October 29, 2021)
What can I say about this week?
It was a lot.
I was deeply challenged and not all of it felt good. But it was worth it.
Freedom is worth it.
My family is worth it.
God is worth it.
This week’s teaching was Pure Heart. We had the privilege of being taught by Tom and Donna Cole, who wrote the book Pure Heart - Restoration of the Heart Through the Beatitudes. (You can check out our book review series here where I talk a bit more about this book) We covered topics like mother and father wounds, confession, true femininity, true masculinity, and forgiveness. Through each teaching the Lord brought up things in my heart that I really needed to deal with.
I was unaware I had been holding onto so much pain.
I also had no idea how it had been affecting the way I saw myself and others.
It’s funny. We can become so used to something unhealthy that we’re afraid to give it up. That’s how twisted the lies of the enemy are: I was afraid to give up pain and unforgiveness.
How messed up is that?!
I felt the Lord nudging me and at first I wasn’t ready. But He was gracious and stuck with me. As I chose to give my wounds to Jesus, choosing to release others to Him instead of judging them myself, I became lighter. It didn’t happen all at once, it was a process, but at one point I actually felt a physical pain in my heart. I got a picture in my head of a wrecking ball crashing through a thick, fortified wall. Jesus broke through it!
I got another picture of me carrying a cannonball - hard, dense, heavy - and I chose to lay it down. Suddenly, the pain I had felt was gone and my heart actually felt "fleshier" in my chest. Quickly Ezekiel 36:26 came to mind: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
That is EXACTLY what the Lord did for me! I believe He wants to do it for you too. I still have a long way to go, but I know He’s faithful and will stick with me - just like He will stick with you. I encourage you to search your heart for anger, unconfessed sin, injustices done to you, and any place you simply don’t feel good about something or someone. Give it to Jesus, repent, forgive and be forgiven.
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” - Galatians 5:1
I really hope that as we share our freedom, you too would be encouraged to take the steps of inner healing. Let go of the past and allow the Lord to heal you.
