Hi, all! I just wanted to share a little about the topic of the sermon from church today. We are studying John 3:16 and today's topic was "Hope for a Hard Heart".
The sermon covered several examples of a hard heart, the product of a hard heart and the prescription for the hard heart. The last part is a good reminder to help us keep focused:
"Remember what God has done for you. Mark 8:17-18
Acknowledge what you have done against God. 1 John 1:10
Give your heart to God."
In the closing, he mentioned a great reminder to help us keep all that happens each day, week, month; in perspective:
"Write your burdens in the sand but write your blessings in stone!"
Things written in sand are quickly washed away and forgotten. Writing in sand is not an effective way to record what goes on to be kept as a reminder for later. Stone is hard and once you make an impression upon it, it can't be removed! What better way to keep our focus on what is most important in our lives!
If you have children, you may have sand around your house/yard. When you are having a particularly hard time with a person, problem or situation--go out there and write it in the sand. Spend some time handing it over to the Lord and then wipe it away! Once we give our burdens to the Lord, they are no longer ours!
Likewise, take time each day, or week to record the blessings in your life from the Lord. Put these in a journal, on your blog or in some place where it will be recorded and saved for future reference. Use it as an encouragement of all that the Lord has done for you in the past and all that He promises to do for you in the future!
We need to do all we can to keep our focus on the Lord and keep our heart open to Him. As humans, we tend to run away from, rather than run towards, the One alone who can help us in all ways! God desires for us to come to Him with all our problems, our joys, our trials and our yearnings. He wants a relationship with us far beyond what most of us can even imagine or are willing to give.
We can start by doing what we can to be open, loving and transparent before the Lord. If we can't be open with Him, how can we be open with others? The more we are open and willing to hand our burdens over to the Lord, the easier it will be to live a life of gratitude toward our Heavenly Father as well as towards those He has placed in our lives!
I will be making a list of my blessings shortly and will also post it to this blog. If you feel led to do the same, just leave a comment letting me know!
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