“May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.” 1 Thessalonians 3:13 NIV
Welcome to The Strengthened Heart Blog.
We started The Strengthened Heart as a retreat ministry almost 15 years ago.
The idea for our ministry came after I attended a Wild at Heart Retreat in 2006. John Eldredge then filmed one of the retreats and made the videos available to purchase, so you could hold your own Wild at Heart retreats where you live.
My church buddies and I purchased the videos and In the end, we held over 20 retreats! I learned a lot about the heart, to say the least. We held our last retreat in the Fall of 2018.
Eldredge’s ministry is called the Ransomed Heart, They exist to restore men and woman to live from the heart as Gods intimate allies, by recovering the treasure of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I have experienced first hand the restoration that John talks about. He has A way of explaining the gospel in a fresh way that speaks to the heart and soul of a man. It’s very inspiring!
John has also written several other books on the topic and I have read and reread most of them too.
The well of depth a man is awakened to in the area of the heart and the ways of the “wild” heart, is endless!
One thing my heart began to awaken to was, I wanted my heart strong. I wanted to “Strengthen” my heart. And After 15 plus years of studying John’s material and holding retreats, I felt awakened to the Larger story, my wounding, healing, posing and the war and battle waging around me spiritually, and most importantly the role Jesus plays in all of it. But…I thought to myself, as I get older, what do I want to contribute? What part can I play? What impact can I make in all this? What perspective can I bring to the table, If any?
John makes it clear we are living in Gods larger story, we do have a role to play, but there is an enemy who comes to steal, kill and destroy, and doesn’t want us playing any kind of role, or even thinking we can contribute to anything!
Back to the question…what future role am I going to play over the next few decades of my life? It’s a tough question.
I have wrestled over that question for about two years now. If I’m honest, more like 10 years, but I got serious about the question for some reason late last year. Mostly because I have been taking a break from leading.
And When covid hit, like most everybody I stayed home most of the time, and I was fortunate enough to have most evenings free. And in November 2020, I felt God nudging me to spend more extended time with Him. It turned into a 30 day time of just reorienting myself to what God is up to around Me. And what part I might play.
God finally spoke!
I didn’t expect it, but I do like to write, so I shouldn’t have been too surprised to feel led to blog.
So, here we are! The Strengthened Heart Blog.
Because I love all things “wild at heart” you will See a theme around that book. With that said, I want to write about strengthening our hearts. Or what does it look like in our walk with God to be strong in our life as a Christian once we are ransomed and made new in Christ?
Some might call this “strengthening concept” I’m talking about discipleship, or growing in our faith, or the process of sanctification. But I like to refer to it as “Strengthening our Hearts!”
I deeply believe God wants us to always be abiding in the vine and walking in and through the Holy Spirit, because when we practice those disciplines, our faith is deepened. And in the end, the heart that God restored us to is Strengthened too! So, Happy New Year! And cheers to your Strengthened Heart in 2021!
If you are intrigued, Please follow my blog.
My plan is to use a multi media platform with this. I plan to write, create videos, interview people, I bought a new drone last year and will incorporate some cool drone footage too!
I plan to make this an incredible adventure! I hope you stick around to see what God does!
Until next time,
Matt