I had an unexpected visit just 20 minutes ago from the Divine Florist. It was a Special Delivery. It was one of His Lilies on the phone. My daughter Rachel called. She is usually attending a meeting and then spending time with a good friend on Sunday mornings. Rachel is a friend of Bill W.’s. She is one of God’s Dumbo sheep. He Enables her to soar like an eagle and do the impossible. He has Given her a New Heart. The old one was broke.
She told me that she put a load of wash in the dryer and when she attempted to turn it on, nothing happened. It wouldn’t work. It didn’t work. It couldn’t work. It was broke. It was incapable of doing anything that it was designed to do. Her immediate reaction was to be frustrated and then concerned about the prospects of either getting it fixed or buying a new one. Her partner in life, Mark, was listening to her conversation with me and chimed in, “We’ll get another one.” He was going to purchase a brand new dryer for her. Just like the purchase made towards a new heart for the little flock of God’s sheep.
“O Lord, You have fully addressed all the controversies and troubles of my old heart. It is broken. You have Purchased a New One for me. Your Son has paid for it in full. You have redeemed my life.” A Free Gift of a new Heart. The old one doesn’t work and it can’t be fixed. You are only on a life support system. You require radical, life-saving surgery. A heart transplant.
“A new heart will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you. I will take away (surgically remove with the cutting edge of the scalpel of your failures and weakness, with the sharpness of your despair and disappointment, the removing of your self-condemnation and guilt). Yes, I will remove the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart that is Full of Life. It is My Own Heart that I give you. It is My Own Spirit that I will put within you. I will accomplish and do for you, everything that I require from you. After his heart surgery, St Augustine said, “Do for me what you command from me, and then command what You will.” He for me.
I just received another call from Rachel. She and Mark went out to Home Depot and already purchased a new dryer. Mark was faithful to the promise He made to the one he loves. And so much more, God to His little flock of sheep, “Because of the Lord’s great Love, we are not consumed with the realities of a broken heart. His compassion never fails. It is New every morning. Great is The Faithfulness!”
My own human heart is filled with brokenness, disappointments, sadness, losses, loneliness, depression, fears, failures, anger, self-centeredness, addictions, constant hunger and thirst for things in life that only temporarily fill. But he has kept His promise to me to purchase and provide a new heart for me. I am still recovering from the surgery, still recuperating from the Divine Ordeal, still being taught to rely on the Strength and Power of the New Heart. And Oh, He is such a Promise Keeper.
It is the Son Who Shines in the New Heart. It is the Son Who made the purchase for the little flock. It is the Son Who paid the price in full for the New Heart. It is the Son Who says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because I am the Voice of Good News to the poor, those without strength and helpless, and utterly broke. My Father sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to deliver them from their despair and guilt. They are blind, but I will give them eyes to see; they are unable to do what is required of them, but I will do it for them and I will be their Strength and I will make them free.”
I found myself thinking of an old song this morning about a broken heart. “Only Love can break a heart; only Love can mend it again.” During the heart transplant, the old stony heart is disconnected and removed by the Divine Surgeon. His Love breaks it and then His Love connects the New One. The soul is mended. A soul full of Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faith, Self-control, Power, Wisdom and Hope.
A Good Moment 