Take heart...

The heart is a curious thing.  We love with all our hearts and have our hearts ripped out by tragedy.  We see our heartbeat when we look at our children, we hear our heartbeat when we are in fear, and we feel our heart skip a beat when we look into the eyes of the one we love.  Some people fill us with such joy that our heart feels it will burst.  Some people hurt us in a way that our heart feels it will break.  Some people leave a precious hole in our heart when they exit our lives and others leave a painful scar.  We can be tender-hearted, broken-hearted, or even cold-hearted.  We can have a pure heart or an evil heart. 

Our heart is who we are and we can be many, many different things all at once.  Our hearts hide our thoughts, fears, dreams, loves, truths, and questions.  It is complex and strong, with many different chambers and many pathways to and from the core.  However, all aspects work together for one purpose – to live. 

 

Live fully and love fully.  Jesus told us to love the Lord our God with all our heart.  Let not your heart be troubled, your heart is in His hand.

First Step

Today is my first step into the blogging world. 

In 2011, I published The Pathway Planner for 2012.  It was a 7-year labor of love, procrastination, disobedience, obedience, overcoming fear, and stepping in faith.  The words were so personal and I felt naked allowing others to read what I held so close to my heart.  It was as if each topic was a fresh loaf of daily bread from the Lord and I was sharing it was others.  The themes and scriptures and comments were so easy to write because they came straight from my prayer and study times with the Lord.  Every keystroke was a joy and I was always excited to sit down and write.  The format of the calendar and pages was another story.  It had to fit my daily, professional life so it took a couple of drafts.  The longest part of the process was actually allowing someone else to read what I wrote.  That was scary and overwhelming.  However, I have a sweet, wonderful friend who prayerfully and lovingly reviewed and edited the text.  Her encouragement helped me to finally publish the planner I worked on for so long.

I loved the content of the first planner, but I was never truly happy with the packaging.  The pages and binder were too big and cumbersome.  In 2012, I tried to write for 2013 and revamp the system, but 2012 started off as a rough year.  Very rough.  Yucky rough.  Choking rough.  I kept my face down in prayer way more than I kept my hands on the keyboard.  My heart was aching and the Lord was healing me.  The planner had to wait.  When I finally felt like I could breathe again, the words just didn't flow like they did for the first planner.  I truly felt I was no longer in God's will to continue the same path.  I feel I am to continue to share the precious things my Father teaches me, but in another format.  Hence, this blog.

I plan to post monthly themes like those found in the Pathway Planner.  However, I will post as I feel led.  I do not want to post "my life".  That is reserved for Facebook.  I want to post about "The Life".    "Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." - John 14:6 NIV

I pray the Lord uses me to feed someone who is hungry for His word and His touch and to encourage them to seek their own personal walk with Him on the unique Pathway of their life.

~  Denise

PS - Hitting "Publish" is SOOOOO hard!  Pray for me!