First things
first, I'll be completely honest with you guys, this series that I have been
doing this week for you guys has inspired me to narrow down my prayer list for
my future husband even more.
Here's my list: {Hate to get all gushy mushy on you guys, but sorry I couldn't help myself ;)}
❤ passionate about His relationship with Christ
❤ a heart to serve God {ministry}
❤sincere
❤ loves me deeply as I love him
❤ generous
❤ kind
❤ funny
❤ outgoing
❤ romantic
That's all I have for now. I'll be sure to let ya'll know if anything else gets added to the list ;). One more random thought, I am SUPER excited for Friday to come around because I am going to check out the Canon EOS 60D in person. I just wanted to get a feel for the camera and see what it is like in my actual hands, before I make the big purchase. I am so darn excited to have that precious camera baby in my arms. Yep, you read my words correctly, I just called my future camera my baby.
....ANYWAYS. Let's get back to this weeks series, friends! God is doing big things both through this blog and in my own life through my partaking in writing this blog series. God is teaching me how I can go about loving my future husband more and more every day, and also how I can serve the Lord more through this blog by providing you guys with as much wisdom as I possibly can on being single and waiting on Christ to write your love story. {Okay, my attempt at sharing wisdom, I guess. I don't like to sound like I-know-more-than-all-of-you, ya know what I mean?!}
Here's my list: {Hate to get all gushy mushy on you guys, but sorry I couldn't help myself ;)}
❤ passionate about His relationship with Christ
❤ a heart to serve God {ministry}
❤sincere
❤ loves me deeply as I love him
❤ generous
❤ kind
❤ funny
❤ outgoing
❤ romantic
That's all I have for now. I'll be sure to let ya'll know if anything else gets added to the list ;). One more random thought, I am SUPER excited for Friday to come around because I am going to check out the Canon EOS 60D in person. I just wanted to get a feel for the camera and see what it is like in my actual hands, before I make the big purchase. I am so darn excited to have that precious camera baby in my arms. Yep, you read my words correctly, I just called my future camera my baby.
....ANYWAYS. Let's get back to this weeks series, friends! God is doing big things both through this blog and in my own life through my partaking in writing this blog series. God is teaching me how I can go about loving my future husband more and more every day, and also how I can serve the Lord more through this blog by providing you guys with as much wisdom as I possibly can on being single and waiting on Christ to write your love story. {Okay, my attempt at sharing wisdom, I guess. I don't like to sound like I-know-more-than-all-of-you, ya know what I mean?!}
Let me begin today's post by sharing with you one of the most famous verses in the Bible, from a little book I like to call Proverbs.
"Guard your heart above all else, for it determines
the course of your life."
Proverbs 4:23
Who doesn't love this verse? We as women especially are devoted to keeping our hearts free from hurt and pain, and we simply desire for our hearts to be happy and full of joy. However, I don't know about y'all, but I have had a bit of a struggle from keeping my heart free from pain and hurt. I often will say to myself: "Oh ya, Proverbs 4:23, guard your heart! I am totally living that verse out in my life! Got it down like a pro, baby!" ...Yet on the inside, I felt pain. My heart has experienced a lot of hurt.
I didn't understand why I felt this pain at first. It wasn't like I was going around throwing myself at different men continuously for physical desires or anything like that. Well, thankfully Jesus provided for me this amazing book by Eric and Leslie Ludy, because Leslie revealed to me just exactly why this heart of mine had experienced so much hurt in the past.
"Maybe you have learned the hard lesson that casually giving yourself away physically causes incredible pain--you feel dirty, guilty, and used afterward. But have you ever thought of your heart as a treasure every bit of valuable as your physical purity? Have you ever felt the pain that comes from casually giving away your heart? From pouring all of yourself into someone, only to have that precious treasure thrown to the ground and trampled on?"
-Leslie Ludy, "When God Writes Your Love Story
Proverbs 4:23
Who doesn't love this verse? We as women especially are devoted to keeping our hearts free from hurt and pain, and we simply desire for our hearts to be happy and full of joy. However, I don't know about y'all, but I have had a bit of a struggle from keeping my heart free from pain and hurt. I often will say to myself: "Oh ya, Proverbs 4:23, guard your heart! I am totally living that verse out in my life! Got it down like a pro, baby!" ...Yet on the inside, I felt pain. My heart has experienced a lot of hurt.
I didn't understand why I felt this pain at first. It wasn't like I was going around throwing myself at different men continuously for physical desires or anything like that. Well, thankfully Jesus provided for me this amazing book by Eric and Leslie Ludy, because Leslie revealed to me just exactly why this heart of mine had experienced so much hurt in the past.
"Maybe you have learned the hard lesson that casually giving yourself away physically causes incredible pain--you feel dirty, guilty, and used afterward. But have you ever thought of your heart as a treasure every bit of valuable as your physical purity? Have you ever felt the pain that comes from casually giving away your heart? From pouring all of yourself into someone, only to have that precious treasure thrown to the ground and trampled on?"
-Leslie Ludy, "When God Writes Your Love Story
A light-bulb went off in my brain upon reading these words by Leslie. It was as if I had known this truth she was revealing to me through her written words the whole time, yet I was beginning to piece together how I unintentionally had been playing it out in my own life. I had not been treating my heart like the treasure it actually was. I was throwing around my heart ever so casually, thinking to myself that as long as I wasn't having sex then I was free from any kind of hurt and pain.
Well friends, reality check for Jessica over here. Turns out that you can get just as hurt emotionally without having sex as you can simply just by having it. It is so easy to overlook how we give our hearts to boys, thinking that casually flirting with them every so often will keep us from getting hurt. Well, let me just tell you from my own personal mistakes of the past, that casual flirting leads to a desire for more attention. More attention leads to a desire for more intimacy. Before we know it, we have already crossed the line emotionally with our hearts and are in danger of crossing it physically as well.
My challenge for myself (and each of you if you would like) is to take a new, much deeper look at Proverbs 4:23. It is time for Jessica to stop overestimating my weakened ability to protect my heart emotionally. I am committed to guarding this heart and giving God full permission to be the protector of it. It is time to start REALLY guarding my heart, the right way.
Let's learn to REALLY guard our hearts, so that way when that day comes where we meet our future man, our precious hearts will have be fully capable of loving them wholly and completely, without any lingering pain left inside of us. Let's keep our hearts beautiful and strong, full of God's love, as He always intended for them to be.
Ps- {prayer request emergency} If you guys could be praying for me that I find a place to live this summer and next year that is in God's will, that would be awesome. I could really use a lot of prayer about this, thanks!
So thoughtful and encouraging, girl...you are such a blessed sister..I just love your heart for the Lord!
ReplyDeleteI love that passage about guarding our hearts...so true!! Thanks for reminding me of that today!
Hugs & hugs!!!
Loved this blog post Jessica because you were so real and it is so easy to relate to. You made a great point when you said "It is so easy to overlook how we give our hearts to boys, thinking that casually flirting with them every so often will keep us from getting hurt". Looking back to my earlier college years, there have been many times in my life where I have casually flirted and wondered why I was so anxious when they didn't text back or call. It took a while to realize that guarding your heart meant guarding your whole heart and we do that through giving every relationship over to God. Thanks for writing blogs and encouraging all of us out here :D
ReplyDeleteAhhhh this post seriously makes me want to give you a huge hug and tell you how much this hit home for me! I had a two situations at school last semester with guys where even though we didn't do anything physically "wrong", hearts were involved. The first situation I came out OK but the guy was very hurt, and in the second situation it was the opposite, and I still have a lot of grief from that. Thank-you for reminding me and everyone else that in future friendships with guys we must take our time in emotional matters as well as just physical ones! And I think "guarding your heart" goes for friendship with girls as well, in the department of not trusting someone too quickly with important information.
ReplyDeleteSo thankful for you, friend!
xoxo Miss ALK
http://missalk1994.blogspot.com
Praying for ya, girl!
ReplyDeleteI've been praying for my future husband more lately. What kind of series have you been doing on your blog? I'd love to do something different on my blog. since the May blog deal ends in a few days.
ReplyDeletepinkowl07.blogspot.com
I love that list in the beginning! It sums it all up. :) Check me out if you get a chance! :)
ReplyDeletePenny Rose
pinkandpetals.blogspot.com/
I promise to share this testimony all over the world once my husband return back to me, and today with all due respect i want to thank DR Amba for bringing joy and happiness to my life. I want to inform you all that there is a spell caster that is real and genuine. I never believed in any of these things until i loosed my husband, I required help until i found a grate spell caster, And he cast a love spell for me, and he assured me that I will get my husband back in two days after the spell has been cast. two days later, my phone rang, and so shockingly, it was my husband who has not called me for past five years now, he made an apology for the heartbreak he have cause me, and told me that he is ready to be my back bone till the rest of his life with me. As I`m writing this testimony right now I`m the most happiest woman on earth and me and my husband is living a happy life and our love is now stronger than how it were even before our break up. So that`s why I promised to share my testimony all over the universe. All thanks goes to DR Amba for the excessive work that he has done for me. Below is the email address in any situation you are undergoing am assuring you that as he has done mine for me, he will definitely do yours. you can contact him via email ambatemple@yahoo.com
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteMy break up was confusing the guy gave me mixed signals as to why he wanted to break up. We got into a small argument with me getting mad at him that exploded 3 days later he wanted a break for a week. During that week things escalated between friends and family we started talking things out again over text. It seemed as if he was open to fixing things between us and was asking to talk in person. We were still arguing during the first week of the break about what the other was doing and who they were around. Then about 3 months ago another break up or break came out of nowhere we seemed to be getting things back in track until no matter what I said or tried to do would not keep him. I need to get him back. I order love spells on http://magical-rituals.com and this witch really help me. My lover back to me.