“Neglecting the heart is never a good thing.  Our hearts offer the wellspring of life and we must, above all else, protect and guard it.” Proverbs 4:23

Tending the  Weeds

I was looking out at our small garden, our driveway, our fence with vines on it—and everything looked neglected, overgrown, and rather sad. There are whole “forests” of weeds! I usually hire a young man to help me with upkeep in pulling up the weeds and keeping things in good shape. But, of course, he hasn’t been here in five months. It’s amazing how quickly it gets out of hand if not constantly tended.

I couldn’t help but think of what I was looking at being a reflection of my heart. It, too, needs continual care or “weeds” come and things get neglected. I need to constantly be in communication with the Lord to keep my heart close to Him. I can never let my heart grow untended. Thinking about this brought to mind something that happened to me early in my life.

I have loved the Lord since I was a young girl. My very earliest memories are of talking to Jesus, kneeling beside my bed in prayer, and waking up in the night with an awareness of the Lord’s presence. But in my early teen years I became frustrated. I had so many questions. I loved the Lord, but I couldn’t understand the legalism in the church I grew up in. So many rules! They didn’t even make sense to me. I felt like my heart was dying.

Right around this time I became very sick. I ended up in the hospital with lots of tests being done. The results were that I had a serious illness—one that could impact my whole life. The doctors were puzzled by some things, however, and wanted to run all the tests again the next day to confirm what they’d found.

I lay in my hospital bed talking to the Lord that day. I cried out to Him. As if a light bulb was suddenly turned on, it became clear to me that because of my questions and frustrations I had lost a lot of the joy in my walk with the Lord. I told the Lord how sorry I was about that. I told Him if I was going to be sick the rest of my life, I didn’t want to lose my joy!

The most amazing thing happened! It felt like a fountain was turned on inside of me and was bubbling up. I could feel my joy returning. I lay in that bed laughing because I felt so incredibly joyful—light almost. The heaviness I had been carrying was gone. The questions and frustrations didn’t matter as long as I had the joy of the Lord in my heart! The “weeds” were pulled up in my heart.

The next day all the tests were run again. The doctor came in to talk to my parents and me and said he didn’t know what had happened, but all the tests came back negative. There was nothing wrong with me. I could go home. It wasn’t long after that that I heard about YWAM and went on my first outreach. The Lord answered the cry of my heart in helping me find freedom and direction in life. And, wonderfully, in ways only God can orchestrate, it’s where I met Floyd and another sweet direction in my life began. God had a plan all along!

Father, tend the weeds in our hearts before they take root and grow. Help us to watch for them and not feed or nurture them. Amen!