heart

For the last two years I have been leading girls' devotions on Monday nights with a friend of mine, Tamara. We are nearing the end of our time with these girls, and I am starting to get really sad. Tamara has been amazing to work along side. She is such a godly woman. Such an encouragement. This past Monday, we began talking about the heart and how vulnerable it can be. As women, we can be so careless with our hearts and we don't always consider the consequences and how devastating heartbreak truly can be. I try so hard not to be vulnerable, but I can't help it. I still haven't learned my lesson, even at 29. The heart is vulnerable, it needs to be guarded. This is especially true for women.

When I was growing up, my family would poke fun at me because I couldn't fight. There was a time when I was mad at one of my sisters (I can't remember which one), it was over a stupid Britney Spears CD. So ridiculous to think about now, but at the time I was livid. I was seeing red. I ran after the sister, grabbed the CD and hit her on her shoulder. Now anyone who actually knows how to fight knows that a lousy hit to the shoulder is pathetic. She actually started laughing at me. I was horrified that I had “attempted” to hurt my sister, so I started crying. I was the one who inflicted pain (not really, but I tried), and I started crying. When my family poked fun at me I would tell them its because I'm a lover, not a fighter. I'm sensitive. I can't help it. My heart reigns supreme.

Now in any Bible study setting with young girls, college or high school ages, there are always the discussions about sexual purity and abstaining until marriage, but not much is said about the heart. Not many understand that the emotional needs of the woman are just as important to her as the physical needs of a man are to him. It's a wonderful thing if a woman saves her virginity for her husband, but its an even greater feat if she saves her heart for him as well.

We are emotional creatures. We have emotional needs and we will allow anyone and everyone to fulfill those needs. Sometimes, its just seeking advice, a listening ear, or a shoulder to cry on. But in seeking these things from men, we are allowing them to meet our emotional needs. When they do this we open our hearts and become vulnerable to them. Sometimes our hearts get carried away. Sometimes we end up feeling things that don't really exist. We've fabricated it in our minds because we think with our hearts.

In a book I was reading this week, it said we are in a battle. Men struggle with their eyes, with lust. We struggle with our thoughts as well, just in a different way. It starts with our hearts and moves from there. Regardless, it is a battle. Take a lesson from me and what I didn't do when I was younger...fight. Don't fight with a lousy shoulder hit, but stand up and fight this battle. Guard your heart with all diligence. Protect its purity. Consider the consequences of tossing your heart around as if it held no value. Only give it to those who truly deserve it. Those who understand its value and want to protect it just as you have.

Proverbs 4:23 “Keep your heart with all diligence...”