The heart or the mind, what do you follow?

In life what do you follow, your heart or your mind? When you make important decisions, what do you follow your heart or your mind?  The reason for these questions is to point out a few things that I really didn't know until I read the bible. One thing that I learned is that, if we have wounds, past hurts, bitterness, anger, unresolved or repressed issues, we tend to make decisions based on our heart, disappointments, bitterness, and fear. Sometimes those decisions are the wrong decisions. Our heart has been broken and naturally we don't want to be hurt again, so we follow the emotions from the heart. The problem with that is this: Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? How do I know by following what my heart is telling me is right, is it from brokenness? It could very well be, and in that case I really need to evaluate what the enemy is trying to set me up with. You know the saying, that we are our on worst enemy. Yes, it is true, we listen to a heart that has been broken, and it makes us so fearful that a wall is built up, we push people away, or we miss opportunities and blessings. 

Ecclesiates 10:2 says this: A wise person's heart directs him toward the right, but the foolish person's heart directs him toward the left. We have to examine ourselves, our way of thinking to make sure it lines up with the word of God. Are you being wise in your decision making or are you being foolish in decision making? Be honest with yourself, that's the only way you will be able to grow. You will need to ask yourself these questions, get to the root of your thought process's, what is guiding you and why? 

If our decisions are made from a wounded heart then can we honestly say that those are sound decisions? Are they based on what's best for us, or is it based on fears from past wounds? I know for myself fear caused me to make some foolish decisions that eventually caused me more heartache than you could imagine. I had to start over, evaluate what was going on in my life and determine a course of action. Some outcomes were okay, but they could have been a lot better had I not been led by my hurt feelings or emotions that were truly all over the place.  I should have sought advise from someone that I could trust and knew they would give me sound advise instead of telling me what I wanted to hear or telling me something to stroke my ego. You know, those friends that are afraid to tell you the truth about your messy situations, and will go along with anything that you do. I had to learn that a true friend is someone that loves you and wants what is best for you. They will tell you things to encourage you, they will tell you the truth about yourself, and they will not allow you to live in a fantasy world letting you believe that you are doing things the right way especially if you're not.  I need advise from those that have overcome adversity and are on the healed side, not walking in bitterness and anger. 

When I read about our hearts being desperately wicked, and who can know it, that scripture showed me that my heart couldn't be trusted, and, I needed to seek the Lord in every aspect of life. I have always heard people say follow your heart, I have said it to others, but now I know our hearts can mislead us. We have to truly seek guidance in everything dealing with life. I have gotten to a place now, that I pray seeking guidance from the Lord, and I ask him to direct my thoughts, my footsteps, give me clear instruction so I may go the path that he has planned for me. I ask him to put the words in my mouth so that I may not say the wrong things. 

Spiritual maturity will cause you to seek the Lord and acknowledge him in all things pertaining to your life. This includes decisions about finances, jobs, marriage, children, conflicts, love interests, and your christian walk. The mind according to James 1:8 says that a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. What does this mean? It simply means that if you or someone you know goes back and forth about any given situation then they are double minded. An example of this is someone has decided that they are going to focus on school and not worry about finding a love interest, and the next day they phone you saying that they just don't want to give up on love, they are tired of being lonely, and they just want a good relationship.  Then a week later there back at focusing on school or work.  Check out the instability throughout their life and compare it to James 1:8.

Psalm 19:14 says Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O, Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Simple, meditate on the word of the Lord, allow the word to transform your heart, and it will also transform your thinking, everything will align itself to the word of God. You just have to study what the word says, get it on the inside of you. Transformation will take place and you'll find yourself in a place called healed.

Once I realized that my heart and mind needed to be renewed by the reading of God's word, I started making changes gradually. Romans 12:2 says Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.  I made the decision to stop leaning unto my warped sense of thinking from wounds that had been leading me down a road of emotional destruction. Many times I made the wrong decisions, and they caused more turmoil, but now I seek the Lord, and I try not to be overtaken by emotional thoughts or fear. I try not to overthink, but I do try to weigh different options for the best outcomes.

Ask yourself the next time you need to make an important decision, Am I following my heart or mind from a place of brokenness or a place of healed?  Wounds of the heart affect every part of our lives, if left untreated. It affects our decision making skills, our thought process, emotional state and mental state. Seek the Lord and allow him to direct you in all areas of your life. In order to be the best version of you, allow the heart and mind to go through transformation by the word of God.