Oh how her words stung my heart!  Eventually her words found residence in my heart, and I let them live there for a long time.

As believers, we are all going to have hurtful things said to us, or done to us.  One of the reasons so many give up on the Church, or even on God, is because a fellow believer wounded them.   I wish these things did not happen, but they absolutely do!

For blog purposes, we’ll call her Alice.  Alice was a strong believer, strong prayer warrior and even strong in the prophetic.    Alice did not like something I did as a leader, and as far as she was concerned it was war.   Her attacks on me were ferocious and unrelenting.   I was devastated.  How could a person, with such devotion, do this to a sister in Christ?

Rather than take her words to God, I took them to heart.  They had their own room in my heart for several months.  I would visit that room every day, and finally that room became the living room of my heart.  It became a place where I spent way too much time.   It wasn’t long before my hurt turned to anger, and my anger turned to bitterness.

My husband and I were scheduled to attend a conference on Power and Prayer.    As I packed for the trip, I made sure to take my bitterness with me.  After all, I had been wronged and maligned!   We arrived at the conference, but I’d already made up my mind to play the wounded card.  So much so, that in the group of over five thousand people, I had my husband sit way up in the nose bleed section.  My gift of the Spirit that weekend was going to be sulking!

Where was God?  How could He let her get away with treating me this way?

As I sat high up in the balcony of that church, totally withdrawn from what was happening, a woman came over to me.  She did not introduce herself, and neither did I.  She said to me, “God sent me to give you a word.  He said that you are a wounded pastor’s wife, and to tell you that He has not forgotten you.  He said to trust Him to make it up to you.”

I gave her a perfunctory smile as she walked away, but I was stunned.    Stunned that the God of the universe picked me out of thousands that day. That He saw me in the crowd.  That He cared enough to not clobber me over the head, but to say, “Trust me.  I’ll make it up to you.”

While at that conference, I redecorated the living room of my heart.  I took down the black curtains and let the light shine into the places that had been hidden.   It was a life-changing moment from the lips of God.

Are you wounded?  Have you been hurt?  How is the living room of your heart decorated?

God  had me write this today, to say: He sees you.  He picks you out of the crowd.  He hasn’t forgotten you.  He knows what has happened to you, and if you will walk with Him, He will make it up to you.  He will give you a healed heart, and an abundant life in Him.  He is the God who sees.

Is it time to redecorate the living room of your heart?  The Master Decorator is waiting.

“For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” –  2 Chronicles 16:9a

Four-year-old Joseph and I were driving to his house, and it was close to his bedtime.  On the almost half-hour drive,  I talked with him, and sang with him,  to try to keep him awake until I could get him in his bed.

Finally, we got to his house, and Joseph was still bubbly and awake.  We walked up to the house, and I stuck the key in the front door, but it would not turn.  For the next five minutes, I tried almost every key I had, but was unsuccessful in getting the door to open.

Though Joseph had been cooperative, there came a point that he wanted to go inside. Until someone could get me in the house, I took Joseph back to the car so I could turn on the air conditioner.   Since strapping this big boy in his car seat is a bit of work, I decided to sit him beside me in the front seat. After all, we were not going to move.

Joseph looked at me as if to say, “This is not where I belong!”

Before I could walk around the car to get in on the driver’s side, Joseph had climbed to the back, climbed up in his seat, and smiled, as if to say, “Now, this is where I should be sitting!”

What seat are you in?  Is it the right seat, or do you need to quickly say, this is not the seat that I was made to sit in?

We should quickly jump out of these seats:

1. Seat of fear.
2. Set of anger.
3. Seat of lying.
4. Seat of unbelief.
5. Seat of bitterness.
6. Seat of unforgiveness.
7. Seat of negativity.
8. Seat of gluttony.
9. Seat of  ___________. (You fill in the blank.)

As followers of Christ, we should be quick to know these are not seats in which God wants us to rest.

We should quickly jump into these seats:

1. Seat of trust.
2. Seat of calmness.
3. Seat of truth.
4. Seat of belief.
5. Seat of love.
6. Seat of forgiveness.
7. Seat of positive confession.
8. Seat of self-control.
9. Seat of ___________. (You fill in the blank.)

Like four-year-old Joseph, as soon as we realize we are in the wrong seat, don’t hesitate – JUMP to the seat that God has provided for your best life.

Where will you sit?

“And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.” – Ephesians 2:6