Good morning, world. Things are looking pretty good from the front porch of my farm in Virginia today. I began this new day like a new chapter in Life and I sought His Will and Wisdom for my Life like a child. My Heart was Tenderized by the King a long time ago, but if I don’t let Him work on me every single day, my Heart will be inclined to crust over just like the fields crusted over with ice this morning. Of all the things I can do to Serve Him…of all the things I can do to Praise Him…of all the things I can do to Please Him…examining my own Heart to be sure it’s Pleasing to Him is at the top of the list. If the condition of my Heart isn’t where He wants it to be, no amount of “shining” will melt the ice-crusted around my own Heart…or anybody else’s I encounter today. Isn’t that the way you look at the condition of your Heart too?

It can be so easy to assume that the Heart can’t crust over with ice for people of Faith, but that’s not true. Coming to our Faith is the turning point toward Victory and a secured Future, but it’s a daily battle to melt the ice and not something we’re immune to just because we Believe. When things grow cold…and they always will… there’s always a risk of ice crusting around the Heart, and when we don’t get busy melting it right away, it grows thicker and thicker each day. There’s water under the crust of ice on the fields today and all it takes is a step in the right direction to break through the layer of ice. But if the temperatures don’t rise before more ice is layered on top of the crust, it will take a blunt force to break through…and so it is with the Journey of Life. The sooner we examine our own Hearts the easier it is to break through – and if we delay getting our Heart in Good Condition for Him, the harder the force it will take to break through. Allowing the Heart to crust with ice is much easier than you can imagine, but a daily Heart Examination and a Willing Spirit will melt away even the biggest offense.

“I see dead people” is just a famous line from a movie we joke about, but I see dead people too. Not dead in the flesh, but dead in spirit with Hearts crusted over with ice. The cold in this dark world has gotten to them, and the madness of our circumstances has caused their Hearts to crust over. They seem to do a lot of examining the news, and they busy themselves with gossip and theories, and although you hear them mention God, He’s clearly not their main Attraction at all. When you hear them talk about their adversaries in this world, I think they’ve forgotten that God loves them too despite their wicked ways – with a good Heart Examine, that would be easily remembered. With Hearts crusted over with ice day after day and month after month, it will take blunt force to break through UNLESS they begin to Examine their own Hearts each day to be sure the ice doesn’t thicken. Until then, they’ll keep walking around like dead people with not enough Light in their lives to make an Eternal difference at all. Nothing matters more or makes a Bigger Difference in a dark world than a Willing Spirit and a daily Heart Exam. This is the Key to being a useful Vessel at such a time as this.

I’ve had a good Heart Exam this morning and there were a few things that needed to be taken to the King…things I didn’t even see yesterday. I have a Tenderized Heart that is pleasing to my God and its warmth will melt any ice I encounter today. It’s a new day and a new Chapter in the Journey called Life, AND I’M READY. I’m ready to show the world what a Tenderized Heart looks like, and if ice begins to crust around me when I least expect it, I won’t excuse it…I’ll take it to the Throne as fast as I can because I know that an ice-crusted Heart is of no use to the King of all Kings.

How about you?