Hope for a Healthy Heart

by Brenda McGraw @BrendaMMcGraw

My brother-in-law just got out of the hospital after being admitted for chest pains. This Friday they are flying to South Carolina for my daughter’s wedding. Of course, all kinds of thoughts float through our heads. 

• “Will he be okay?” 
• “Will they keep him in the hospital, and neither he nor my sister will make it to the wedding?” 
• “What if he has to have surgery to have stent placement?”

His hope is for a healthy heart. Our hope is for everything to be okay and that our plans will go as scheduled.

However, sometimes our plans don’t work out. Things are out of our control.

I had an unhealthy heart, and a heart attack, two years ago when I was fifty-two. One day unusual symptoms of dizziness, shortness of breath, back pain, unusual pains in my neck and throat, along with just not feeling good were an indication that something was not quite right and led me to the doctor. After an EKG and heart catheterization, they discovered I’d had a heart attack.

My hope was for a healthy heart.

But what does a healthy heart look like?

According to an EKG, it is a heart without abnormalities.

According to God, it is a heart pure and steadfast searching after Christ. But God not only desires our hearts to trust in Him; He wants them to leap for joy.

To leap is to “spring through the air from one point to another point or position.” It is also defined as “to move or act quickly or suddenly, or to rise.”

How can we have a heart like that?

By putting our trust in God. He gives us strength when life looks hopeless and we are drowning in a sea of discouragement. God has the ability to surprise us with unexpected blessings that move us to leap for joy. He loves us and has everything we need and long for.

When we take our disappointed and discouraged heart and surrender it to God, He will give it a new spirit of joy and peace. We will then sing a new song, and we can leap and rise up in joy.

God’s hope is for a healthy heart.

When your heart feels hopeless, think on the following verses and wait in expectation for God to supply your needs and accomplish far more than you can imagine.

Hope for a healthy heart.

"The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and He helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise Him." Psalm 28:7 NIV

“Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant what I hope for, . . .”

Job 6:8 NIV

“Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.” Psalm 25:5 NIV

“Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.” Psalm 31:24 NIV

“But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in His unfailing love . . .” Psalm 33:18 NIV

“We wait in hope for the Lord; He is our help and our shield.” Psalm 33:20 NIV

“Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest in hope, . . .” Acts 2:26 NIV

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

 Romans 15:13 NIV

I challenge you to pick one of these scriptures and write a post about it, memorize it or pray it for your life.

Let our hearts leap for joy and praise the Lord!

Brenda McGraw is an author and speaker who reveals how to discover joy beyond the clutter of life. She draws from her own life experiences in the #1 Amazon Best seller, “Joy Beyond, 28 Days to Finding Joy Beyond the Clutter of Life”. She is the founder of Ask God Today Ministries where she has a team of writers sharing truth and hope with others. 

Brenda currently lives in South Carolina with her husband, Jeff and three of their five children. She is a survivor of breast cancer and a heart attack.. Despite the challenges she has endured, Brenda found peace through her relationship with Jesus Christ. 

You can connect with Brenda at:

Website - http://www.askgodtoday.com

Amazon Author Page:  http://www.amazon.com/Brenda-McGraw/e/B00GOIE7AG

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/BrendaMMcGraw