To be known by the Father, what a beautiful thing.

It’s no secret that “not much” has been going on these past few months, wouldn’t you agree? Definitely more so now than before, but thinking back to just a few months ago, there were no trips, no hangs, no church, no classes, no work, no school, no vacations, no concerts, no girls nights in anything other than sweats, and no normal. Thankfully things are slowly getting back (thank you Jesus and praying for a continuation of it!!) but life itself is far from it. We’ll never know that “normal” again but y’all, I’m not so sure that we should want to. Anyways, during that specific time, if you were to ask anyone what they’ve been up to or what’s new?! You could pretty much bet that their answer would sound something along the lines of ‘oh you know… not much!!’ and we all know that’s the truest thing that any of us could have said! I know for me, I loved to answer with everything I had done in a day but after listing off what I made for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, who won our family game of scrabble that day, and how many walks I took with my sister, I would finish with ‘so yeah, really nothing’ and laugh. Hello, 2020. But what quickly became my favorite question to ask and be asked was this…

What’s God doing in my heart? What’s God doing in yours?

I feel my focus shift anytime this is asked. My thoughts, all my attention, my adoration. Dang, I don’t want to miss it. I don’t want to miss Him moving, breathing life, restoring, redeeming, simply and extravagantly being who He is because I don’t take the time to pause and think, God what is it that you’re doing? Because I want to partner with You, lean in, and find myself there. Wherever you are is where I want to be and found nowhere apart from that place.

This weekend Gracie and I were road tripping back from Louisiana and I got to thinking man, what is God doing inside of me right now? I was reminded of a specific morning spent with Jesus on my porch. It was early, foggy, and crisp. The leaves were starting to change and slowly fall to the ground. To be so honest, I’d been struggling with feeling hard hearted for a few weeks leading up to this day. Like I couldn’t think or see straight, I’d felt distracted and distant from the voice and heart of God. I had been remembering things I thought I’d forgotten, things that had hurt me in the past, and feeling things I thought I would never feel again because God had healed me of those wounds that once cut so deep. I was thinking things I haven’t thought in years and making silent agreements with the enemy about things that I knew were not true about who God says I am. I was frustrated to say the least, because hello God, don’t you know I’ve been there and done that? As if God can’t come back and touch what’s His? Ooof. I wanted to be tough and okay and tried and tried to be just that, but as a result felt like I had developed calluses on my heart from striving so hard.

I looked to my right and saw a giant heart shaped leaf beside me and seconds later, another one fell from the big tree behind the porch a few feet from where I was sitting and felt God whisper to my weary heart, you give me yours, I’ll give you mine. I had to get up and go get it though. I had to trade mine for His. Ones brown and crunchy and the others colors are vibrant and full of life. Ones tired from trying and ones so effortlessly offering the life He desires for me to have, the one His son died for me to live. One’s been broken and stepped on and maybe even kicked around in the hustle and bustle of life and the other is just offering me His own… Friends, God gives us a new heart, He gives us His. I took Him up on the invitation to give Him mine in exchange for His and sat there and poured out my heart to Jesus. My best friend. More real to me than the bedrock beneath my feet. This Jesus, how wonderful. It was hard and ugly and I didn’t feel so ‘tough’ or together, but as I fell apart and allowed Jesus to place His finger on what I couldn’t, the fog lifted. And as the fog quite literally lifted around me that morning, as I let Jesus into where I was, the honest hard spot of where I was, the fog lifted in my heart and mind and I could finally see again. His love changes me. I could see truth for truth and lies for lies. I could see His kindness, the love story He’s been writing all along, I could see how He was restoring me to Himself and making me His own. I could finally see again. I’ve felt His hand so tangibly on my heart these past few weeks but up to this point, I couldn’t even tell you what it was or for what, but then I remembered what God’s told me and that He’s always faithful to His word… He said I’m giving you a new heart in exchange for the one you have, and He’s done just that. He’s given me a new heart, His own.

I don’t know about you, but I know I forget that while God knows us, everything about us, every hair on our head and every thought before we think them, He wants us to be known by Him. He wants what’s going on in our hearts and minds, He wants us to come to Him with our everything. He wants the honest condition of our hearts and what’s going on inside of them. Our hearts affect everything, what we allow in, how and what we see, and what comes out. My trying so hard to ‘be’ something myself only hurt me, but the second I let Him know me, really know me, where I was and what I was ‘hiding’ (if you will) was the second everything changed. He can’t heal what we don’t give Him and we can’t possess what we don’t come and get from Him.

I’ve lived with this lovesick stirring in my heart ever since for more. More of God. More of the life and love and freedom and joy and peace that come along with knowing Him. Honestly I don’t think we can ever get enough, we’ve only tasted and barely seen, you know? Thank you God for that! I don’t know what it is, I really can’t explain it but it’s that feeling that nothing else will do taken to a whole new level. Friends, that’s not my heart, that’s His. That’s a new spirit, that’s His spirit, crying out Abba Father. He gives us His own.

He wants to give you a new heart.

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26-27

“You’re as real to me as bedrock beneath my feet, like a castle on a cliff, my forever firm fortress, my mountain of hiding, my pathway of escape, my tower of rescue where none can reach me. My secret strength and shield around me, you are salvation’s ray of brightness shining on the hillside, always the champion of my cause.” Psalm 18:2 (TPT)

Sarah Tucker is the owner of Imago Dei in Franklin and Nashville, TN, where the heart behind the shop is to point people back to Jesus and serve as a reminder to everyone who visits that they are made in the image of God. She loves drinking coffee, long country drives, and spending time with her friends and family! Follow Sarah on Instagram @sarahatucker

**We at Live Original absolutely LOVE Imago Dei. Everything from the clothes to the heart behind the store is dear to our hearts. Check out their website HERE!