One morning in Nicaragua during 5am prayer I asked the Lord what He wanted for me in this coming season and He gave me the image of a deeply rooted heart. The whole race the word deeply rooted oak has been spoken over me, the word steadfast has as well that I’m not wavering, when the winds or storms come I’m not moved just like a oak tree isn’t. I stand firm in my faith and who I am in the Lord.. This was sweet and all in my past season but its such a basic phrase in the world race world. I wanted something fresh, when the Lord gave me this image I ran with it. Ever since I’ve been learning so much about the heart.. So heres a small piece of what I’ve been learning about.
During training camp last July my mom found out she had a major artery in her heart that was 99% blocked and she would need immediate surgery, she had to have a stent put in and get this artery unclogged, after the surgery the doctor said any day she could’ve died.
Get this: Your heart is the life source of your body. Every part of our body is connected to the heart somehow, God is our life source (the heart), we are arteries, every inch of us should be connected to the heart but if we are clogged we cannot reach the life source.
If the heart has one artery clogged, it won’t beat properly, it won’t give off a small piece that is needed,you won’t be able to jump, run, dance, or live to the fullest and this is exactly what my mom experienced. An artery can be clogged by comparison, lust, lies, pain, fear, doubt, anger, pride, apathy, your past, just anything not of Jesus. The only way we can get it unclogged is if we go to our doctor, God. If our heart isn’t unclogged we cannot love, we cannot worship freely,we cannot love genuinely, or run without getting tired. With home being so close, I know past wounds and people that have hurt me or made me angry are going to come back up but its a battle I have to continually have to fight to have a deeply rooted heart abounding in love, in the Fathers love so I can forgive myself, forgive those people, ask for forgiveness from them and love them.
One night at debrief at the end of Nicaragua we sang these lyrics, “You can have it all, Lord. Every piece of my world. Take this life and breathe on. This heart that is now yours.” This was just confirmation that for this next season my heart needs to be deeply rooted. I have to give everything to the Lord and unclog every artery in my heart in order to love to the fullest,, whats the point of living if you aren’t loving to your full capacity?
When my parents came to Nicaragua they gave me a finishing well letter, at the end it said Lavished love, “Theres no place too deep that His love can’t reach. May you know this in a new way each and every day. May HIS LOVE for you OVERWHELM YOU! May the Love the Father shows you take you to a whole new level. May HIS love for you, flow out of you in new way. May your love for Him be renewed with fresh eyes every day.
The truth is we cannot have a heart rooted and grounded in the Fathers love if we don’t unclog the things in our life that keep us from loving and being who the father calls us to be. Free.
Ephesians 3:14-21 “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
