Thoughts for Life: A Spirit-Wrapped Heart

Suzanne Eller- "One month ago, I had my last surgery after a second bout with breast cancer. It’s been such a weird year, standing outside the hospital a handful of times, saying my goodbyes to my family as I walk in to have surgery alone.

It’s been a hard, hard year; it’s okay to say that. (Google image, The Spirit-led Heart)

It’s also been a year of faith and growth. Galatians 5:22-23 has been a part of that.

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! (Galatians 5:22-23 NLT)

In this passage, Paul lists strong and beautiful attributes of a Spirit-led heart. I have wanted to be all these things even in this hard season.

I long to love like Jesus, especially to my family for they have been impacted by this battle too.

I desire to be marked by joy – not pretend happiness, but joy that comes from trusting and knowing God, right where I am.

I long to feel peace and also to offer it.

I desire to be patient with God’s timing, even in a battle I didn’t ask for, and in a pandemic that seems to go on forever.

But the truth is I am not all of these things, even when things are easy.
Perhaps that is why I love Galatians 5:22-23 so much. These verses are not a list of you-must-dos, but an inventory of what the Holy Spirit brings to us.

These attributes are available to us because the Holy Spirit dwells in us.

We can’t be all these things on our own, nor are we asked to be. Our role is to listen for the Holy Spirit and follow Him day by day. The more we do this, the more those attributes lead and guide us, and at some point we have a Spirit-wrapped heart.

In this last year, I’ve spent a lot of time wrapped in gauze. A double mastectomy. Reconstruction. Surgery after surgery. I should have stock in gauze!

The promise I see in Galatians 5 is that you and I can be Spirit-wrapped.

The strength we walk in is not ours; it’s His.

The wisdom we need; it’s there.

The capacity for love is greater than our own.

We find rock-solid joy tied to our relationship with God rather than our circumstances.

All of these attributes – love, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, peace, self-control – these are not decisions of a spur-of-the-moment heart but produced as we trust and grow and make mistakes and get back up, all the while listening for the voice of the Holy Spirit inside of us.

That’s what a Spirit-wrapped heart looks like.

I’m so excited that this last surgery was my final chapter in breast cancer battle #2. I can move forward again and I’m excited by that.

Yet I don’t want to forget what this season has taught me. A Spirit-wrapped heart leads me – not only in the hard spaces, but wherever I am. And it will do the same for you.

Remember that the Holy Spirit has everything you need in this season.

Ask for what you need. It’s right inside of you. [Let's pray]

Heavenly Father, the Holy Spirit is inside of me and that’s hard to fathom. I realize I cannot have the fruits of the Spirit on my own, and You don’t ask that of me. When I reach for what is natural, remind me of the supernatural so very close at hand. In Jesus’ Name, Amen."

591-595- one-line Scriptures for those of you who want to learn some more verses this week- or to review them from when they were first posted-

591- 1 Cor. 6:14 "And God hath both raised up the lord, and will also raise up us by his own power."

592- Is. 12:6 "Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee."

593- Pro. 9:10 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding."

594- Ps. 119:165 "Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them."

595- Ps. 66:16 "Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul."

Quote for today-

~  From Holiness magazine- "How would the great work of sanctification go on in a man if he had no trial? Trouble is often the only fire which will burn away the dross that clings to our hearts. Trouble is the pruning knife which the great Husbandman employs in order to make us fruitful in good works.

   If you desire to serve Christ and be saved, I entreat you to take the Lord on His own terms. Make up your mind to meet with your share of crosses and sorrows, and then you will not be surprised. For want of understanding this, many seem to run well for a season, and then turn back in disgust and are cast away.

   If you profess to be a child of God, leave to the Lord Jesus to sanctify you in His own way. Rest satisfied that He never makes any mistakes. Be sure that He does all things well. The winds my howl around you and the waters swell. But fear not, He is leading you by the right way, that He may bring you to a city of habitation" (Ps. 107).

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