Renewing Your Heart

There I sat listening to the beep, beep, beep, of my mother’s heart monitor while the smell of hospital chemicals threatened to turn my stomach. After spending days in the Intensive Care Unit watching over my mother, I would drag myself home for a few hours to check on my husband, who was also experiencing health issues, and then back to the hospital to spend the night by my mother’s bed. Back and forth I went, running between my mother and my husband, trying my best to be sure both of them felt loved and cared for. For weeks my business had been neglected, not to mention myself. I couldn’t remember when I had done my hair or eaten a full meal.

I was overwhelmed and exhausted, and my devotional time with the Lord was practically nonexistent. I was praying for my mother to pull through and my husband to experience healing, but I hadn’t read my Bible to seek refreshing from the Lord in weeks. Even though I could see others all around me in need of the uplifting message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, my spirit was dry, and I didn’t have anything to pour out. I was just in survival mode!

Most of us experience times when our spirits are numb. Usually, it is when we have experienced something that stretches us to the max, and we find ourselves in a kind of survival mode, just trying to hang on. During those times, we are so swallowed up by circumstances that we don’t spend intimate time in the presence of the Lord. Our faith may still be firm, but we know the spiritual fire we once felt is fizzling to a low ember

The disciples were no different. We read in Luke 24 how they had just come through a week of trauma, having watched the arrest and crucifixion of the Lord. Talk about survival mode! Even though they were told in Luke 24:4-9CloseLuke 24:4-9 As they stood there puzzled, two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes. The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the men asked, "Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn't here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told you back in Galilee, that the Son of Man* must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day." Then they remembered that he had said this. So they rushed back from the tomb to tell his eleven disciples—and everyone else—what had happened. OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt) that Jesus was alive, they were still focusing on the trauma of their experience. Then Jesus came on the scene. He spoke the word of life to them. He knew their hearts needed renewing, so He opened the scriptures to them so that their souls were flooded once again with His light!

 It was the light of His word that renewed their hearts and set them on fire at that moment.

They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the scriptures to us?” Luke 24:32CloseLuke 24:32 They said to each other, "Didn't our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?" OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt) (NASB)

He will do the same for us, but we have to let Him walk on the road of life with us and slow down enough to spend time in His word.

If we do that, we will find our hearts renewed and once again burning for Him.

It wasn’t long before my mother was released from the hospital, and my husband regained some strength. I began to dig into the scriptures and allow the word of life to renew me. God, in His mercy, brought me through my trial and restored me.

If you are weary and in survival mode, trust in God’s faithfulness. Let faith arise in your soul and believe that He will renew you once again.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, forgive us for allowing circumstances to take our focus off of your word. Thank you for walking this road of life with us. Renew us so that the fire of your love burns bright and enable us to ignite the world with your love.

Copyright © 2019 Sherri House, used with permission.