I wanted to share this post from 2019 with you. We have all been through so much since then. Imagine how many chances our hearts have had to soften, to deepen, even to break in the experiences of our times. LW
Recently I encountered an old friend. In a conversation with her, she asked how I was now, as so much time had passed. “Softer, I said. “I am softer with time, after many years and experiences. Life had made my heart softer where before it had many edges and ridges. Now it sinks here and there.” I tried to describe to her what is indescribable.
Afterward, I felt thankful and filled with memories. I knew that she could not really understand. We had been separated by such distance, like the many mountains that I have traveled through in my journeys.
Life softens. God knows. He walks beside us.
Sometimes it takes time and ups and downs to soften our hearts. Only God sees our lives and our hearts in truth. Surely, He had known each detail along the way. He has been with us, beside us for every step.
What is a soft heart and what does that mean? Well, soft is new. We are born with hearts that need to become new. We need a second birth. We feel alone until we find it. We sense vulnerability and powerlessness until we find our true heart in and with God.
When I thought that I was alone, I tried harder, I often created much effort believing that I needed to do things on my own. I thought that I needed to form strengthening skills to survive. We all develop heart-survival skills because we forget that God is with us on the journey. He is our true and only strength in life’s journey. Everything else falls away or may fail. Real Strength was not even about me!
Real strength is about God, not us.
Psalm 76:26 –“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
Philippians 4:13 -“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”
As we find Him, we are given a new Heart.
Ezekiel 26:36 –“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”
2 Corinthian 5:17 –“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
Soft is the Spirit of Christ’s Love in our hearts.
When the new forms in us, and we belong to Christ we, are saved by faith. The process of becoming like Him is ongoing, it is Sanctification. That new heart grows. It becomes our new inner Influencer!
We and our lives are never the same again. The ridges become containers that are filled with the pourings of God’s blessings, with His Spirit – like waters that fill us and our hearts with newness. Imagine a thirsty valley in the springtime receiving the rains of God’s love season after season. We Soften, we are fed and the fruit of His Spirit grows in us.
Galatians 5:22-23 –“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
When we become new, we live as His Own. We can live with hearts softly, lovingly. I am not there, I pray that I live a life that gives rich evidence of the fruit of the Spirit. I have a long way to go still. But the parts that ‘sink here and there’ are soft enough to be filled by God’s Spirit. I am so grateful for His Goodness, and for so many Blessings – surely there are challenges but the Lord is at my side. (and with you) This is the only journey that I would ever want to be on.
© 2019 Linda Willows
Pray Soft
I pray that we soften to the miracle of knowing God’s Love,
to the reunion of walking each hour of the day in His Mercy.
I pray soft listening for our hearts, that we hear His Voice
amidst the challenges of our lives; from the calls that we are each given.
I pray soft walking in this world as we journey with one another.
Let us find each other in His Arms as One.
I pray for soft forgiveness in our relationships near and far; help us
all to remember how much we have been forgiven, and open our hearts.
I pray soft tenderness so that we open doors for others; let us be generous
and gracious givers in this wondrous life that we have –
for the Lord God has been so good and kind to each of us.
In Jesus Name,
Amen
The BELOVED 