My Heart

"Keep thy heart with all 

diligence; for out of it are 

the issues of life."  ~ Proverbs 4:23

Keep:  

The 35th (yes, 35th!)  definition found at www.dictionary.com has keep defined as "to remain or stay in a particular place."

As we learned in our first lesson of Claudia Barber's book Refresh Your Heart, our heart is...

Our emotional self

Our thinking self

Our spiritual self

Diligence:  Constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken

We are to take our heart (our emotions, thoughts, and spirituality) and apply constant & earnest effort in guarding it...because as the verse concludes...OUT OF IT ARE THE ISSUES OF LIFE!  (Emphasis added. :))

Jeremiah 17:9 warns us about our hearts.

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it."

I've recently had a discussion with a friend about God giving us the desires of our hearts.  He longs to do this for us...however we need to acknowledge what Jeremiah so eloquently wrote in Chapter 17, verse 9.  

Our hearts often long for things that God knows in His infinite wisdom that we are not capable of handling.  We must be reminded that what God has given us for today - those things, relationships, etc. - are what we are able to handle.  He does not give us more than we can bear.

He's too good to make any mistakes.  He's too loving not to care.