I recently had my second child and, just like when I had my first, I feel like I have been on a steep learning curve the last few weeks. Simply put: I’m not one of those moms who has it all together! This week, what should have been a routine, small outing with my two children in tow, turned into a comedy of errors. I will spare you the details, but the outing ended with tears! So many tears! Big ugly, can’t talk tears! And not from my 3-year old, but from ME!
In the midst of my pity party, I heard the Lord speak, “Guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” (Proverbs 4:23) Guard my heart?? This was no time for dating advice!! “Guard your heart” was something my girlfriends would remind each other before we were married and would go on a date or be dating someone. “What does guarding my heart have to do with feeling overwhelmed by my current season of life?” I asked the Lord. His response, “What piece of armor guards the heart?” (See armor of God in Ephesians 6). “The breastplate of righteousness” guards the heart. Knowing that Jesus traded my sin for His righteousness is what “guards my heart” and everything I do flows from that fact. In that moment, I repented… I changed my mind! Instead of feeling like an overwhelmed, insufficient, scatter-brained mess, I mediated on the fact that I shared in Christ’s righteousness!! I “guarded my heart” not in the ways I had done it in the past, but in my new definition. I rested in the One who gives my soul rest! The next time you feel downtrodden, defeated, overwhelmed or attacked: guard your heart! Put on that breastplate of righteousness and know who you are in Jesus!
