The "Art" of a Child

Proverbs 3:1-4

My son, do not forget my teaching,
but keep my commands in your heart,
for they will prolong your life many years
and bring you prosperity.

Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.

Then you will win favor and a good name
in the sight of God and man.

This was Madeline's imaginative idea of how to use the stickers she found in Olivia's secret stash. For Olivia, it was unacceptable! Until 2 minutes later when it was brilliant. For me, it was a real-life object lesson. My mind immediately went to this verse about writing God's law on my heart.

Lately I've needed more than just God's Word in my hands, on my mind or even in memory. I've needed it deep within my heart so I could rely on it when times got rough.

You know how sometimes we know something in our heads, something as simple as "God will always take care of me." But life happens, and it's in those times that even simple truths run into a little bit of trouble making their way from our brains down to our hearts. You know that place.....where thoughts collide with emotions. The place that often succumbs to worry, fear or discouragement in spite of what we know to be true.

I need God's word to penetrate my heart in a way that overcomes my fears. In an absolutely real way, that takes away my feelings of being overwhelmed. In the way that instills in my very being WHO God is and WHAT He is capable of doing.

So in times like these, when life is not all smooth sailing, and the seas are more than just a little choppy, my prayer will be that the Holy Spirit would write God's truths on my heart in permanent marker (or as they say in California, with a sharpie). That those truths would be forever imprinted there and not even the storms of life will be able to wash them away.

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