The Condition of our Hearts

Hey girls!  Hope all is well for you on this Monday.

Looking at the calendar I have decided to pick February 3 as our next meeting.  I had not planned on skipping January but coming out of the holidays and  the snow and now the thirst conference....well it just doesn't leave much room on the calendar.
Even though we haven't met I have been praying for you.  One thing that I have been thinking about lately is the condition of our hearts.  What is the condition of you heart?  of mine?  There have been moments in my life where it has been hard, cracked and dry.  In times like that I go and do as I please, giving little thought to God and His ways or to my spouse, children or friends in need.  I watch what I want, say what I want, listen to what I want, me, me, me!  Then there are other times when my heart feels like a piece of clay in our Father's hands.  Soft and pliable.  At those times it seems as if He is almost always pressing and molding me.  When our hearts are hard we don't feel much.  We don't feel sorry or conviction.  We don't feel anything really because of the scab we have allowed to grow over.  Sometimes our hearts get hard unintentional.  Life gets so jumbled up and busy and we just begin to go through the motions as the scab creeps up day by day like the ivy that has covered over my fence outside my kitchen window.  The fence is unrecognizable just like our hearts.  When our hearts are soft we constantly feel.  We feel true pain over the sin in our lives, even if it is considered small to the world's eyes it feels great on the Lord's scale.  We feel longing, deep focused longing.  Longing for the one who made us and calls us, when our hearts are hard we can't hear Him.  Sometimes when I wake up my longing for my first cup of coffee keeps me from focusing on anything else!  But this longing for Him goes much deeper.  When Terry and I are apart for any length of time I have a longing to be beside him again.  This longing intensifies with the years, doesn't fade.  And so our longing for time with Christ is deeper, when our hearts are soft.  When our hearts are hard we just do what we must to get through the day.  When our hearts are soft we take careful steps walking through the doors He has opened. Then we feel joy.  Real joy.  Dare I say "enjoyment".  Joy that comes from Him is present even in the most difficult of circumstances and mundane tasks.  So how is your heart?  What is your heart's spiritual diagnosis?  My prayer for you and me this week is that Christ would remove our scabs.  That He would do spiritual surgery.  Taking His Spirit and slicing through all the way to the soft flesh.  The part where we can feel conviction again, hear His prompting and have love towards others even when it is most difficult.  Father you have our hearts, please pour your Holy Spirit on us like oil.  Soothe the cracks and make them soft again. Give us an unquenchable passion and thirst to know you more.  Convict us of wrong thinking, and draw us to you.  Amen.
Love you,
Carrie