Skip to main content

How’s Your Heart?

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life – Proverbs 4:23 
I believe many women and men are reckless with their hearts. And it doesn’t always happen recklessly in the beginning. Often, people meet other people they think or perceive are great in the beginning, and without using discernment, allow their feelings to take over and let different people have access to their hearts, only to get them broken when a relationship (or what they mistake as a relationship) ends. I don’t like that. And as I reflect on Proverbs 4:23, I’m reminded of the importance of guarding the heart. Guarding your heart doesn’t make you paranoid or standoffish, it makes you smart. I don’t believe God wants us offering up our hearts to just any and everyone that comes along, yet many people still do. God wants to hold our hearts and He can fully be trusted. My prayer is that women and men will guard their hearts more carefully before pursuing and engaging in any relationships. Lord, please guard the hearts of your sons and daughters. I pray for all the men and women that are developing relationships, establishing new ones, healing from old ones, dating, courting, or in a season of growing more serious in their relationships with family or new friends. Please give us wisdom, insight, and clarity before we invest and dedicate our time to these relationships, and especially give us discernment before we share our hearts in these kinds of relationships. Thank you for your protection and unconditional love. In Jesus name I pray, amen. 

Popular posts from this blog

The Day I Became A Kidney Donor

About a year ago, I had a dream my dad wanted to talk to our family about something serious. I wasn’t sure what he wanted to discuss, but I knew it was something I needed to prepare myself for. Around the time after I had this dream, I remember stopping by my parents place and sensing something was going on that they weren’t telling me. I tried to dismiss what I’d been feeling, but I couldn’t shake it. Something serious was happening. As I returned to my home after visiting them one day, I was in my kitchen washing dishes when a heaviness hit my heart like nothing I’d ever felt before. Something’s wrong with dad. That’s what that dream was about. God, what’s going on? As I continued washing dishes, I started crying and praying. Then in mid-spring, my dad held an unexpected family meeting that would change all our lives forever. He hesitated at first, and as his voice started cracking and he started crying, he said, “Well, I wanted to talk to ya’ll to tell you that I have kidney disea...

Thoughts From a Black Educator: Qualified, Credentialed, and Constantly Undermined

I’m a Black educator in my fifth year of teaching middle school English, and in my third as the 8th Grade English PLC (Professional Learning Community) Lead. And while I genuinely enjoy the purposeful work I get to do, seeing the growth of my scholars, and continuing to hone my skills in a content area I’ve loved since I was a little girl, I’ve had to confront some unpleasant experiences in this space.  I’d been through much worse when I was an academic advisor at a Christian university. Racism, sexism, harassment, and workplace bullying were sadly norms in that environment. However, some of what I’ve experienced as a Black educator hasn’t been normal … It doesn’t seem normal to be the only Black educator in my department – in a predominantly Black school. One of my Black colleagues once said, “It should look like a Tyler Perry movie in here.” But it doesn’t. It didn’t feel normal being reprimanded in a meeting (during my second year of teaching) by an administrator who went in on...

The Day I Made A Will

When I was a teenager, I remember writing a list of my greatest fears. One of the things I listed was death. Looking back, it was an interesting item to list because inevitably, death is something each of us will face at some point in our lives. Even though it’s no longer a fear of mine, I understand why and how it’s not a comfortable thing for everyone to navigate. But regardless, this past summer I completed a detailed will. I signed it, had witnesses sign it, and got it notarized. As I was getting everything done, one of the witnesses looked at me and said, “You know, it’s just that you’re so young…” I’ve learned that death doesn’t care how young or how old you are. You can be five, fifteen, thirty, or fifty, and it’s still something that happens. Completing my will wasn’t scary. It gave me peace of mind having documentation in place stating my detailed directives and requests. A year ago, I had one of my kidneys removed. It was a surgery that came with risks that were presented cle...