Real with Rue

They say no one ever died of heartbreak, but they lied. In fact, when you suffer deep and emotional pain, it can have physical consequences. According to science, it may actually weaken your heart muscles, which means that your heart is not as effective at pumping blood. This means less oxygen to vital organs, and suddenly you are seeing your sins live on Heaven’s Jumbotron-30000, with the Book of Life spread open looking for your name. One of my favourite bible verses I hold dear is Proverbs 4:23, ‘Above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life.‘ There are so many things I pick from this because the greatest commandment the bible says is ‘love the lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul.’ I am sitting here realising that they are very intertwined. You cannot love outward if you hold hate inward.

A large part of guarding your heart involves forgiveness. As a Marvel fan, I watch a lot of villains cause destruction from a place of anger and hurt, and it has now manifested outward. These things influence your life, and therefore it is important to let offense and hurt go quickly because it can quickly build up and even change you physically. A key part of that is having an increased discernment to recognise offence and place it at the cross quickly, in fact, I frequently pour my emotions in my journal when I am offended on a piece of paper and then imagine placing it at the cross. This is another attempt at me not allowing the enemy to have a foothold in my life. In fact, I was listening to a testimony from an ex-witch, and they say people who are holding anger and unforgiveness in the spiritual realm are the easiest to weaken.

The discernment of guarding your heart also is about recognising ‘good from godly.’ This involves being able to weed out and cut things from your life, particularly by protecting your ears and your eyes, as they influence your heart. For example, ask yourself why you like a certain type of woman or man, why do you only date certain types of people? Is it influenced by the music you listen to? The TV programs do you watch? The social media feeds you have curated? The people you hang around?

In that same breath, as a Christian, what you entertain, will slowly take your heart’s desires. If you don’t guard your heart before, by putting in measures before you are offended or even after, you are susceptible to allowing your emotions to control you, and our faith is not an emotion-controlled religion. For example, I am very emotional, I love deeply and I feel things very deeply. One rule I put recently is, that on the rarity that I am angry, I vent to God first openly and I will say whatever is on my mind, because God can handle it, to avoid saying things I cannot take back. At the same time, you have to ask God to reveal offence you have let slip, so he can search your heart, so you can pray and work on it.

Lastly, Solomon said ‘Guard‘ your heart which the Hebrew ‘Shamar‘ translates as ‘watch over” or ‘restrain.’ Like a child playing in an outdoor pool or park, you put safety measures such as arm bands, before they even get in the water, but you also watch vigilantly because you know there is a danger that can occure. That is how we should guard our hearts, not building walls and isolating ourselves, but being aware of dangers so that we can continue to love the lord with all our hearts and minds.

It’s been real.

Rue