Guard Your Heart

"Pay attention, my child, to what I say. Incline your ear to my sayings.  Don't lose sight of my words.  Keep them in the midst of your heart.  For they are life to those who find them and health to all their body.   Above all else guard your heart, for it affects everything you do." -Proverbs 4:20-23 (From the NASB and NLT)

Those verses seem to be a continuation of yesterday's thoughts which I first titled, Be on Guard, but then changed my mind and ended up with Holy And Blameless.
I have been keeping my daily quiet time routine for over 11 years now.  Too many times, even this Mary heart, has neglected it.  My family always seems to know.  I bring more tension into our home when I have not guarded my heart.  I am quick to find fault; not very patient, kind or loving.  When all that my heart has meditated on is me.  When all that I have feasted my eyes upon has been the world and it's ways; that affects everything I do.

It all started with conference speaker Becky Tirabassi who shared her book Let Prayer Change Your Life and a notebook for journaling prayers.   I've changed it up some over the years, but it was her challenge to commit to spending daily time in prayer that started me on this journey.  She connected time in the Word and time in prayer.  Two things that I had always done, but not with the purpose of hearing from God each day.  Reading His word and looking for what He might be saying specifically to me- that was a new idea to incorporate.  These daily times of sitting at His feet and listening to His Word, times of praise and confession and thanksgiving and bringing my requests before Him- these are the things that guard my heart.  Life is so much better for everyone around me when my mouth speaks out of the abundance of a heart that has spent with the Lord.


Grace, Peace, and Mercy,
Deb