Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart.  Psalm 97:11 ESV

For the last several months, I have found myself using the phrase, “well bless her little heart” or “bless his little heart”.  I tend to use the phrase when someone does something that I totally cannot comprehend or something that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to me. You see I am trying to refrain from thinking, “why on earth would someone do that?”  I also don’t want to think or say, “what kind of idiot does something like that?!”  In some cases, I say this when someone does something that is extremely insensitive to others.  I have found that by saying this, it actually helps me to say a little prayer for this person and to literally pray to God to bless them and help them with whatever their problem may be. I am not saying this in a condescending way, I  mean it. It helps me because I have a tendency to say what I am thinking and sometimes I need to not say it or think it.  So, using this phrase helps.  But I have learned something that I find frightening.

I am learning that people that have no relationship with God often do stupid things.  I know this from experience because before I had a good, solid relationship with Jesus, I did some really stupid things.  I did and said many things that I would give anything to be able to take back. Unfortunately life doesn’t have a rewind button.

Now I want you to know that I am in no way putting anyone down who is not a Christian.  I am just saying that my heart goes out to someone that has not established a relationship with Christ.  This is because this very small scripture passage says a lot.  If we want to walk in the light, we must be close to God.  God is light.  I walked in darkness for too many years and that was a lot like those poor Israelites circling the same old mountain trying to get to the Promised Land.  I like walking in the light, it’s a really good thing.

I have also learned that true joy really does come from having an upright heart.  You see before I got into this relationship with Jesus, I thought joy came from other things. I thought true joy came from drinking with friends.  I thought true joy came from dead end relationships.  I thought that the more people you had at your party the more joy you had.  I found that none of this was true.  I have found that true joy comes from a right relationship with God.  Now this scripture passage describes that by saying “upright in heart”.  You see in the old testament, the heart was considered the whole package which consisted of heart, soul, mind and emotions.  So if you were upright in heart then this would indicate that you were in right standing with God and all was well.  If you ever stop to really notice people, you will find that people that have no relationship with God may appear to have it all together, but eventually their lives spin out of control.  Eventually these people come against a problem that they cannot handle.

Now if you think about it, I probably appear to be the stupid one.  I say this because I no longer attempt to handle any of my problems.  I have messed up enough of my life  and I just don’t care to mess it up any more.  I try to give all that stuff to God.  I know that God has good plans for me.  I know that God is working all things out for my good and I know that God loves me.  The Bible tells me these things and I know they are true.

One thing that just doesn’t make sense to me,is why someone would not rush to get into a right relationship with God.  But I can easily answer that, because I know what the answer was for me for so long.  I thought I was having a great time with one foot in church and the other foot in the world.  I thought that I could just sit on the fence and be a lukewarm Christian.  I thought that God would bless my little heart if I put my hour in at least a couple Sundays a month.  I was wrong.

It took me a while because you see, I was really stupid and tended to be a slow learner.  But finally, I realized that God wanted a total commitment.  He wanted me to give it all to Him.  I couldn’t understand why, because by then I had made such a mess of it that I didn’t even want it.  But He truly wanted my all, so I gave it to Him.  I have never looked back and I have come to realize that this was the best decision I’ve ever made.

God now blesses my little heart.  This doesn’t mean that my life is always a piece of cake, but it does mean that God handles stuff for me.  I also still sometimes make mistakes, but this usually happens when I forget and try to do something without God’s help.  Praise God, those mistakes are getting fewer..

I thank God every day that He blesses my little heart.  I hope that He is blessing yours too.

Have a great day!