The battle, dear friend, has always been for the heart. Not the surface behaviour. Not the polished persona. Not even the picture-perfect responses we muster for the world to see.

Behaviour is merely the fruit — the visible outworking of our heart’s condition. What lies beneath the surface, in the unseen chambers of our being, tells the real story. “The true story of every person is not the story you see, the external story. The true story is the journey of his or her heart.” — John Eldredge & Brent Curtis

We often forget that the heart — the seat of our inner man — is the very place from which our thoughts, discernment, courage, memory, and will originate. Scripture doesn’t divide the heart and mind as modern psychology does. In the Hebraic understanding, they are one integrated function. The heart thinks. The heart remembers. The heart reasons. The heart chooses.

Yet life wounds the heart.

A broken heart is not poetic sentiment — it is a very real, soul-deep reality. A bruised will, a fractured memory, a courage lost through trauma… these are not healed by willpower or good intentions. Core-level wounds need core-level healing.

The good news? 🤔Jesus doesn’t offer surface solutions. He doesn’t bandage wounds that run to the marrow. He heals the broken-hearted. He binds up their wounds. (📖 Psalm 147:3)

When your will has been crushed — when your courage has failed — when you no longer know what’s real or what to trust — Jesus meets you in the inner sanctum of your heart and whispers, "Beloved, I am here. I see your pain. Let Me heal what no one else sees."

Transformation doesn’t start from the outside in. It’s not behaviour modification. It’s sanctification — bringing the old self to death — so that His life may rise within. This is the gospel: not just forgiven, but transformed.

So what is the fruit your life is bearing? 🤔Is it born from your redeemed heart — the one given to you at salvation, where the Holy Spirit now dwells and teaches you to walk in God’s ways? 🤔 Or is it still echoing from an unredeemed wound, one Jesus is inviting you to surrender? 🤔When pressure comes — like a sponge squeezed — what is flowing out? 🤔 Bitterness or beauty? 🤔 Control or compassion? 🤔 Rage or rest? 🤔

The good news is that healing is possible. Memory by memory. Layer by layer. We have this treasure in jars of clay… (📖 2 Corinthians 4:7) Yes, cracked vessels we may be — but carriers of glory, nonetheless.

So today, I invite you to slow down. Go beneath the behaviour. Let Jesus show you the root — and lead you into deeper healing. Let Him touch the broken places that have long cried out for wholeness because the real transformation — the kind that changes your countenance, your relationships, your destiny — starts in the heart and that, beloved, is where He begins.

💡Reflection:

• What is one behaviour you’ve noticed in yourself lately — a reaction, habit, or thought — that may be pointing to something deeper in your heart?  🤔

• Invite the Lord to show you what lies beneath and ask Him, “Jesus, where do You want to heal me today?” 🤔