Heart Storage

Some of us have storage units, sheds, or rooms in our homes filled with things we have collected over the years. At one point those items represented us in some way or another. They represented what was in our hearts. I have been going through a purge of material possessions. Those things that no longer represent what is in my heart. It has been a hard journey. Sentiment is attached to each item, even those items that remind me of dark days. 

"For his mouth speaks what overflows from his heart." 

I want my heart to be filled with joy, peace, kindness, compassion, love, mercy, grace, understanding, forgiveness, and every good thing from God. I know to have those things I must fill my life and my mind with goodness. Everything from Bible reading, prayer, good music, positive thoughts, good food, exercise, fellowship, and choices that get me closer to the person that Yeshua was when He walked this earth. 

Then Yeshua said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. ~ Matthew 16:14

Denial of self in this society is not the norm and it even looked down upon. Everywhere you turn someone is saying do whatever you want or think of yourself before others. This line of thinking isn't about loving yourself and taking care of yourself, it is more about stepping on others to get what you want. It is about using any means necessary to succeed in the world's eyes. Well, that is not God's way. Yes, scripture says to love yourself. That is so that you can love you others. 

 And a second is similar to it, ‘You are to love your neighbor as yourself.’

 ~Matthew 22:39

Take a moment to think about what this means. Our neighbor is every single person we come in contact with and even those we don't. We are to love everyone. Can you give something you don't have? No. If our hearts are stored with hate for ourselves, that hate will flow out of it in negative words and hateful attitudes. 

Hate stirs up disputes,

    but love covers all kinds of transgressions. 

~Proverbs 10:12

When we hold on to hurt it festers and eats away at us. Eventually it turns into hate and at any moment it can be triggered. I struggled with this for many years. I let the hurt that others caused me to sit in my heart and every time the same person or another person did something that hurt me I brought out that past hate and allowed it to take me into a dark place. A place where love couldn't reach me. A place where I shut out God and anyone who tried to help me. The hurt I held onto got so heavy that I buckled under the weight and one day about 26 years ago I almost let it take me out of this world. Thank God for good friends who cared enough to step up and tell me the truth I didn't want to hear. 

"you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 

~John 8:32

It is a choice. Plain and simple. A choice to love or to hate. A choice to hold on to hurt or let it go. A choice to cry out to God and reach out to someone for help. No matter which road we choose, they will both me hard. We need to choose our hard. Do we want to take the road that will heal or the road that will kill? Either way, it takes one step. Sometimes that step requires a u-turn and a running pace to reach the road to healing. What will you choose?