Ready for a Heart Transplant?

Because we were out-of-touch with the world last week while on our fishing trip, I missed two heart-breaking family notifications -- the passing of a dear cousin as well as the passing of the 18-year-old granddaughter of an aunt and uncle.

As I thought about our cousin, who lived a most beautiful long life of service to God and others, but suffered for many years from strokes, I rejoiced that he is where we all desire to be and know that our separation is just temporary. Heaven is where we’ll meet up with him again – sooner than later.

And, for our uncle, aunt and their children whose young 18-year-old daughter passed away, I could only think of heartbreak for a life lived for such a short period of time. I thought about heartbreak, heartache, broken heart and every other type of “heart” condition that needs mending, healing, restoring and I realized a heart transplant is what is needed. Psalm 34:18 says “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” I know that comfort so well because God gave me a heart transplant when my heart was broken. We’ve all had our heart broken in some way and I would say to anyone that God cares about you and whatever your heart “issues” are. In fact, it is in our pain that God is closest to us. He gives us a heart transplant when we seek Him with our heart “issues”. It’s His specialty.

For the heart that hurts from the passing of a loved one, He gives us a heart of beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness (Isaiah 61:3). For a cold, stone heart, He gives us a soft, tender heart of flesh. For a heart that's guilty, He gives us a heart that’s forgiven. For the heart that’s troubled, He gives us a heart of peace. For the heart that’s anxious, He gives us a heart that’s confident. For the heart that’s lonely, He gives us a heart full of love. The heart that’s bitter and angry? He gives us a heart that’s forgiving and loving and generous instead.

So, today, if your spiritual heart is barely beating, I pray you to consider a heart transplant. I mean, go to God’s operating room where He heals the broken-hearted, sets the captive free, restores the years the locusts stole, breathes life back into your lungs, creates beauty where there were only ashes. I, too, knew pain, worry, heartbreak, concern, fear, and sadness. But, because I also knew the power of trusting in God and His great ability to heal and restore me, I reckoned with the lies of the enemy, and I opened my heart to the truth of God’s promises to me. I had a heart transplant.

There are voices in our lives that lie to us and they tell us we’ll never be healed, we’ll never get over the loss, we’ll never forget the past, we’ll never be restored, we’ll never love again. But we must come into agreement with God who makes us new again, restored and healed. We just need a heart transplant and be willing to live again because God makes all things NEW when He gives us a NEW heart and spirit. (Ezekiel 36:26)

We All Need Somebody to Lean On!

This post is a follow-up to my “No Man is an Island” post from yesterday. My heart ached when I heard about Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain recently taking their lives. I didn't know them, but I remembered a precious friend, who recently took her life. Depression is real. Heartbreak is real. Loneliness is real. Desiring-to-end-the-pain is real.

C. S. Lewis noted, "Mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it is more common and harder to bear. The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden: it is easier to say my tooth is aching than to say my heart is broken."

With all of my good news, uplifting, encouraging, positive and motivational posts daily, I am still very aware that life is really hard for some of us. Sometimes it’s gut-wrenching, “I can’t go on this way” kind-of-gut-wrenching. Some of my precious friends have shared bits and pieces of their stories with me. I see the pain. I get it. I connect with it. I hear the struggle, and I want nothing more than to take them up in my arms and make it all better for them.

As I said yesterday, we need each other. We need community.
We need to get back to embracing co-dependency (I’m still working on that one, myself!). I gave scriptures for it yesterday. (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 and Luke 15:4). God gives His example of co-dependency. He does everything with Jesus and the Holy Spirit and likewise, they don't operate outside of Him. Three in one. We’re made in His image. So, why would we want to do life independently? It goes against the way God made us.

I have a small close-knit group of people that I trust with my life. Literally. They have lived life with me for years. They’ve shared high and low moments with me. And when life became difficult for me, they were there to encourage me by just being there with me until I found my way out. Words cannot express the depth of love I have for these people. They've seen my ugly cry. They've listened to my crazy rants. They know the depth of me and champion me to the core. (You know who you are. And I love and thank you so much.)

Oftentimes our "community" is our phones and laptops. Just let me say this to you, my FB, blog and social media community -- my faithful readers, I love you so much. You are my people. You are the breath of what I am made to do. Every “like and love” emoji and every word you type on here, every response and comment, I cherish. Deeply cherish. You are my reason for getting up at 5 am each morning to give a word to you that just might give you the breath of fresh air you need to be able to BREATHE in God's grace, love, and hope for each new day.

I know that I'm a by-God’s-design listener. If we met for coffee, I’d listen to you and capture every word you said. I’d ask questions and listen some more. After processing, I’d respond. It’s how I’m made. In many ways, this is what this FB post and blog has become for me. It’s my heart to yours. It’s what I need for me, and when I hit that POST button, it's what I sense you may need, too!

We all need community. People who understand and champion us. When we take off the masks, we find that we are all very much the same. We all have hurt. We all have stories. We all have hopes. We all have dreams. We all long to be known and connected. When we begin to see all people as "our brother, our sister and friend", we gain respect for them. And out of that comes love. Real. Authentic.Love. It is then that we begin to look a whole lot like Jesus. The resemblance is undeniable. And, out of all the lives we help to save, one just may be our own.

What Do You Do When Bad News Breaks Your Heart?

When Your Heart is Breaking -- Then What?
I sincerely ask God to give me the words I should provide in my daily posts, and today, I was compelled to share these words. Just maybe, your heart is breaking because of a recent tragedy in your life and you don’t know if you’ll survive the pain and heartbreak.

I heard a speaker share about the time when his dad was so ill, and in so much pain, that he really thought his dad would take his own life. He called his friend, a Christian psychologist, for advice. His friend said, "We pray that he won’t, but you may be right. He just might. And, it would be heart wrenching and painful for you. But, you will be okay, because you will still trust in God's sovereignty, you will bounce back because you will hold to your faith in God and you will live on with hope and determination. I know you, and I know the storms you’ve come through, and you will survive.” To that, I say "WOW"! Wow -- because it is so true for those of us who have met with a personal crisis, have experienced the loss of a loved one, who know the tragedy of financial loss, who know the pain caused from a divorce or broken relationship.....and we carried on. We made it through those times or, we are making it through those times now. The speaker went on to say that his dad lived beyond that time and, in fact, his last days were of sweet times with his family and friends and trusting in God.

Yesterday, I received a request for prayer for a family in my Tulsa home church. The wife/mother passed away just after delivering her newborn daughter. As heart-breaking as that story is, without a doubt, I know there will be loved ones and friends who will step up to give them support and comfort in these very tough times. There will be a healing process and they’ll be desperately looking for answers. But, with God’s abiding faith and love, they will make it. I know it, because I know so many tragic events and I know how those families not only survived, but they are thriving today.

I think that psychologist’s words, though straight-forward, were the words this speaker needed to hear. And those words ring true for all of us. When tragedy comes, we have an Anchor, and if we hold onto that Anchor, we will not go under. Yes, it hurts. But we will be okay, because we still trust in our loving Father’s plans and purposes for our lives. We will bounce back because we will hold on to our faith in God and live on with hope and great determination. Yes, we will carry on -- that is, those of us who know that this life is just a breath, compared to eternity. We will live another day and rejoice in our ability to stand strong in the face of overwhelming circumstances -- not in our own strength, but in His strength. "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." (2 Corinthians 12:9)

We know that this isn’t the end of our story. It’s a chapter in our story, and there are other chapters to write after this one. Our Savior isn’t a cold-hearted cosmic judge disconnected from our pain. He’s a loving Father and Friend who is walking with us and even carrying us through life’s most difficult times. Jesus said, “Never will I leave you or forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)

One of the most beautiful promises in the Bible is that God “causes all things to work together for the good of those who love Him…” (Romans 8:28). On this side of eternity, we don’t always see how He takes the broken pieces and creates something beautiful with them, but we can have peace in knowing that He will redeem the tragedy somehow in His perfect timing. Perhaps some of the good He will bring in our tragedy is to use the pain to bring us closer to Him or bring us into a relationship with Him for the very first time. And the end of each day, we will still proclaim: "God is good. All the time. And, all the time, God is good!"