I’ve known Susie for years and I love and esteem her to the moon and back…. We first met when I was a guest on her radio show and I was deeply struck by the rare, deep well of wisdom she is. We talked about the thousands of ways God has shown us His goodness and I truly didn’t want the conversation to end. Susie and I have shared the platform at speaking events, and we’ve enjoyed moments of prayer backstage and we’ve loved hear other through sickness and what this woman writes, I read because Susie Larson is an uncommon sister in Christ who treasures His nearness. It is a complete joy to welcome Susie to the farm’s table…

Guest Post by Susie Larson

I sat across the table from my friend, and we enjoyed an easy banter. Suddenly the conversation shifted to a painful relationship issue she was walking through. Her brow furrowed, and her jaw muscles flexed.

Just then, our server interrupted us to refill our water glasses. I watched my friend as she stared out the window. Her countenance darkened, and the light went out of her eyes. Her fists clenched, and the previous sense of hopeful expectancy vanished. 

Once the server walked away, I touched my friend’s arm. She stared out the window and didn’t flinch.

“Hey,” I said. She looked back at me. I continued, “Tell me where your thoughts went just now.” She shook her head and said, “What? No. I’m fine. It’s nothing.” I leaned forward and said, “It’s not nothing. Tell me what just happened in your heart and mind. Where did your thoughts go?”

She relaxed her hands, exhaled, and confessed that she’d spiraled into the ditch of anger, despair, and hopelessness. Together, we disentangled her thoughts from the lies she believed and helped her grab hold of the truths she needed. Then we prayed and asked our Father to intervene. My friend is a woman of God. And by the time we parted that day, her joy had returned, and her faith was fully engaged.

How do we discern when we’ve wandered off track? It’s simple. Do our thoughts bring life and peace (Romans 8:6)? Or not? It’s good to ask ourselves these questions each day, and sometimes several times a day:

What am I accepting, and what am I rejecting in my heart and mind? And how are these choices affecting my perspective and faith at this moment? 

“Diligence calls us to keep the right things in and the wrong things out. Far too often, we’re lackadaisical regarding the issues of our hearts. We allow insecurity to linger unchallenged. We open the door to fear. “

Scripture tells us to guard our hearts with the diligence of a prison guard on duty, fully alert and completely aware of his responsibilities (Proverbs 4:23). Imagine the boundaries of your heart. Only truth belongs there—God’s truth that heals, reveals, guards, and guides. The lies will continually poke at you, trying to find an opening or a vulnerability. The lies will rob you of all God has for you. 

Diligence calls us to keep the right things in and the wrong things out. Far too often, we’re lackadaisical regarding the issues of our hearts. We allow insecurity to linger unchallenged. We open the door to fear. We continually rehearse thoughts that weaken us. We think nothing of holding grudges and making careless judgments. We have no idea how these poisonous roots choke the life right out of us. God forgive us.

Yet God, in His kindness, teaches us how to tend to our hearts in the middle of hardship and heartbreak.

Though it’s tougher to stay hopeful amid suffering and expectant amid hardship, it’s what our souls need.

That’s where spiritual heroes are made. 

After God set the Israelites free from slavery in Egypt, they prolonged their journey through the wilderness—so much that the first generation never made it to their promised land. They coddled their fears more than they clung to the promises of God. Some would say that though their fears at first were understandable, those same fears eventually made them rebellious. They refused to believe God.

The people refused to enter the pleasant land, 

For the wouldn’t believe His promise to care for them.

Instead, they grumbled in their tents and refused to obey the Lord.

Psalm 106:24-25 NLT (emphasis mine)

God has a next place of promise for you. He’s committed to love and care for you. He calls you out of the smallness of your circumstances (like the Israelites grumbling in their tents) to behold the vast landscape of hope and life He’s prepared for you. God has also given you a free will—the right to decide which attitudes you’ll embrace and what perspective you choose to live with. All of these choices have consequences. 

God has a next place of promise for you. He’s committed to love and care for you.

You have the right to accept one thing and reject another.

May you become a skillful and godly warrior. May you be quick to discern and reject the Enemy’s lies. And may you be quick to accept and embrace God’s truth that will set you free. May you become mighty in God. 

Faith Declaration:

Because of Jesus and in His Name,

I reject rejection!

I accept acceptance!

I am loved, called, and chosen.

I’m highly discerning, and I walk in freedom.

Father in Heaven,

Holy is Your name. May Your kingdom come, and Your will be done, on earth and in my heart as it is in heaven. Lord, show, me my heart! I’ve put up with too much from the Enemy of my soul, but no more! I’m done listening to his lies. I’m fine-tuning my ears to You, Lord. Speak what’s true. Breathe fresh life into my soul. Heal my heart and make me whole. Give me feisty faith so I can walk in freedom. 

Amen.

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