Guard Your Heart by Selena Day

Proverbs 4:23(NLT) “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”

Well, over the past few months the divisiveness in our country seems to have boiled over, and it finds itself erupting onto the pages of Facebook as well as many other social media outlets.

I am the youngest of three. My birthday is in October, but my parents decided not to hold me back a year in school, so during my school career I was always the youngest. Without realizing it, this set a distorted thought pattern in my life, that just because older individuals surrounded me they must be more knowledgeable than myself.

I married my husband, who is eight years older, and began a journey with him in a career that I knew absolutely nothing about. Which only reinforced this image I carried of myself, that my knowledge and wisdom was limited.

So imagine my surprise when I felt God slowly and gently calling me to be a leader. He set the course with a few life lessons that began unraveling how I viewed myself as a leader, and showing me my leadership skills and what it meant to lead.

My first and greatest lesson was in motherhood. From the very beginning, you can either make decisions based on what is easiest on you and what hurts you the least or you make decisions that are for the good of the whole. When I became a parent I realized the truth behind the old adage: “This is going to hurt me more than it’s going to hurt you.”

Another lesson was in Negril, Jamaica, on a break from a mission’s trip we were working on. A friend of ours took us to Ricks Café, a place famous for cliff diving. I am afraid of heights and I told everyone that there was no way they were getting me to jump off those cliffs. That was until I got there. Once there, a peace came over me and I knew that it was something I had to do. After I jumped all the men in our group jumped. One of the guys with us had been coming to Negril for over 16 years and never braved it until that day.

Sometimes leadership is about being willing to go first; others see that it can be done and they follow suit.

During this season of division in our country, we as believers must become leaders in bringing unity back out our nation.

I was so moved by a number of believers who prayed and fasted for the elections. Now that the elections are over we must not stop. We must press even harder into prayer and fasting, interceding for our country that it will find it’s way back toward God and His goodness in our life.

As leaders, we must be first in offering the olive branch to those who disagree with our position. We must be the first to show kindness. We must be the first to show love. There are so many believers out there ready to throw the first stone, but where are those who will get down in the dirt with the unlovable and tell the accusers: “He who is without sin, cast the first stone.” Jesus set the example for us to follow.

Over and over Jesus would tell His disciples, “I only do and say what I see or hear from my Father.” It is so important for us to follow this example and not confuse our passion for the Father’s passion. What do you think the Father’s passion is? Stop for a moment and really think about this. What does He say?

Is His passion full of love, kindness, generosity, goodness, joy, peace, faithfulness, gentleness, patience, and self-control?

Whenever you encounter division in life, ask yourself if you are displaying our Father’s nature. If not, keep silent, because silence cannot be misquoted.

Selena Day is a motivational speaker and is available to speak at your conference or event. You may contact her at selenaday@me.com http://www.queenliving.org http://facebook.com/queenismsbyselenaday.

Photographs courtesy of Selena Day.

First published by SGNScoops Magazine in March 2017.

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