When we’ve been hurt, it’s natural that we’d try to put up barriers to protect ourselves. But we need to be careful that our protective shell doesn’t turn into a ‘heart of stone’ that’s resistant, unmoved, and doesn’t even let God in.

Author Kristen Armstrong writes: ‘The only thing more painful, and with…more serious ramifications than a broken heart, is a frozen one.…Paul warns us [about] allowing our hearts to harden. “They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts” (Ephesians 4:18 NIV). A soft heart is not weak or naive. To the contrary, wisdom, experience, and faith make for a strong heart, weathered by compassion and seasoned with mercy. A hardened heart is not protected, it’s merely encased in injury.’

A hardened heart makes us immune to God’s promptings. We lose compassion for the needs He’s trying to show us. We miss opportunities to make a difference in the lives of those around us because our hardened hearts won’t allow us to be moved by feelings of sympathy. We can’t empathise with those who are hurting. God softens our hearts with love. He might allow us to go through a season of testing, and while we may see it as nothing but a struggle, He sees it as an opportunity to break through the heart of stone and replace it with one that’s pliant, tender, and ready to respond to Him.

Kristen continues: ‘[God] wants to give you a heart of flesh. With His love you can emerge from a painful season of loss with a heart that is yielding, porous, and ready to receive the gifts He has…for you.’

What Now?

Draw an outline of a heart. On the outside of it, write short notes about any experiences that you feel have hardened your heart. Inside the heart, write Bible verses that speak peace, love, and restoration into each of those situations.