The Heart of a Woman 4

Whether we tend to dominate and control, or withdraw in our desolation and hide, still...the ache remains. The deep longings we face in our hearts as women, just do not go away. And so, as a result, we indulge! INDULGING WOMAN She buys herself something nice when she is not feeling appreciated. She allows herself yet another scoop of ice cream or a super-sized something when she is lonely. She moves into a fantasy world to find some water for her thirsty heart. She is a fan of romance novels, soap operas, talk shows, gossip, myriads of women magazines that all feed into an inner life of relational dreaming that only substitutes - for a while- for the real thing. But none of these things satisfy, so she finds herself trying to fill the remaining emptiness with her own little secretive indulgences. These are what we call "bad habits" a.k.a "little affairs of the heart". They are what she gives her heart away to instead of giving them to the heart of God. She daydreams her way through traffic. She imagines meaningful conversations or difficult ones where she speaks brilliantly. She spends her imagination on cheap novels, picturing herself as the beautiful heroine - winsome, pursued, and beautiful. She is endlessly creative in her indulgent pursuits, and adulteries of the heart. She certainly does not limit herself to just one. Now, take a moment and consider what your indulgences are. Where do you go instead of to God when the ache of your heart begins to make itself known? Do you spend too much money, gambling, bingeing, purging, shopping, drinking, working, cleaning, exercising, fantasising, too many movies, sitcoms, talk shows, even our own negative emotions can become indulgences. When we camp our hearts in self-doubt, condemning thoughts, or even shame because these emotions have become familiar and comfortable, we end up faithlessly indulging...rather than allowing our deep ache to draw us towards God. Unfortunately, our indulgences make us feel better...for a while. They seem to "work", but really only increase our need to indulge again. This, ladies, is the nightmare of addiction! Addiction is not only about drugs. We give our hearts to all sorts of other "lovers" that demand our attention, demand that we indulge again. We taste something that we think is good, our longings cease to ache, for a minute, but later we find ourselves empty once more, needing to be filled again and again, and again. It is a lonely prison of our own making, each chain forged in the fire of our indulgent choice. Do not be ashamed that your heart aches; and that you need, thirst and hunger for much more. All of our hearts are at some level of unsatisfaction and longing. It is the insatiable need for more that drives us to our God. Realize that all of your controlling, hiding and indulging, actually serves to seperate us from our hearts. We lose touch with those longings that make us women; and the substitutes never, ever resolve the deeper issues or our souls. Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. John 6:35 (New Living Translation)