Episode 81
Guard Your Heart Part 2: Protecting What You Believe About God

Jill:
00:09

Hey there. Thanks for joining us again today. This is the Finding Hope Podcast. We’re Charlie and Jill LeBlanc, and we’re here to talk about how to get through what you never asked for. And we want to continue what we were talking about last time, which is about guarding your heart.

Jill:
00:29

The Bible is so clear about the heart being the most crucial part of our entire being, because that’s where we live out of. And when we experience hardship, and tragedy, it can really damage that part of us to where we don’t come out of it healthy, we come out of it worse. But God is there to help us so that we can guard our hearts and become a vessel that can help other people and be a blessing to our family and all those around us.

Charlie:
01:12

Yeah, and you know we brought this point out left on the last podcast that you know Jesus heals broken hearts and then this scripture says guard your heart for out of it flows your life. And so Jesus is wanting to heal our hearts. And yet sometimes we don’t guard our healing. Don’t we’re not guarding the healing process that God is doing because we get embittered and we get, you know, harsh and we get hopeless. And so the enemy is out to steal, kill, and to destroy.

Charlie:
01:54

That’s the bottom line. He’s trying to just destroy us. And he does that by putting bitterness in our hearts, by putting unforgiveness, and so many terrible things he does to try to destroy us. So again, Proverbs, you know, Proverbs says, well, not Proverbs, but another scripture says out of the abundance of your heart, the mouth speaks and there’s an abundance in your heart coming out and we need to make sure that that heart is healthy, a healthy heart.

Jill:
02:27

That’s what

Charlie:
02:27

we’re talking So that we can speak, good things and we can live a long life, and be prosperous and be blessed. And, we have a lot of friends that have had horrible losses. And it’s great to see how many of them have just recovered, gotten into a good place. It’s not easy. It took a few years, you know, sometimes longer.

Charlie:
02:52

But, but you know, guard your heart because out of it flows the issues of life. And you know, left off Jill the other day, on this Lamentation Scripture, which is obviously one of our favorites that we quote quite a lot. Lamentations three and, I’m going to read it one more time. Said this I recall to mind therefore I have hope because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed. And, you know, and then I like the NLT, it says, Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this.

Charlie:
03:29

So there’s this aspect of keeping your heart healthy by having a good amount of hope in it. Hope for the future. And I can I kind of remember it’s about three and a half years in, into my grief journey that all of a sudden I went, wow, I think I can dream again? Hope and dream is similar. They’re connected.

Charlie:
03:54

And I thought, I think I can start dreaming again. But up to that point, I was having a relationship with God. I think we were starting to record another album. I think it was four years out that we recorded the second album, but, you know, we were trying our best, we were stumbling along, but I remember that one point I even wrote an email, a blog about it, about, you know, keep hope alive, your dream again. And because I started seeing that, my heart was getting to a place where I could begin to hope and believe him again.

Charlie:
04:31

Hope is so important. And you know, Hebrews tells us it says hope is the anchor of your soul and your soul wants to just go down into the depths. Yeah. But you know, like we said in limitations, you know, remembering God’s mercy and God’s love can birth hope again remembering that he cares that the scripture says there is hope for your future declares the Lord. You know, so there is hope.

Charlie:
05:01

You know, Jeremiah 2nine 11, of course, you know, I’ve given you a hope and a future. So, you know, there is a future. There is a hope. You may not see it now, it’s there. And so we want to encourage you to try to grab hold of that hope so that your heart can become healthy.

Charlie:
05:23

The enemy just wants to steal our hope. The devil wants to steal, kill, and to destroy. And so we just need to be strong and be aware that the enemy wants to destroy us.

Jill:
05:37

Boy, he does. I mean, you know, we’re created in God’s image.

Charlie:
05:42

And

Jill:
05:43

we’re on the same team, God and us. And the devil hates us for that. The devil hates that we were created in the image of God and that Jesus has redeemed us and broke the power of spiritual death. And so he hates us. And he tries to do everything he can to get us off track and to wound our heart so that we can’t get healthy.

Jill:
06:16

In one Peter five:eight, we read a scripture that says to be sober minded, because this is your adversary, the devil prowls about like a roaring lion to seek whom he may devour. That’s very serious. And we don’t need to become obsessed with the devil, but we also shouldn’t pretend that spiritual warfare isn’t real. We have to be aware and stay vigilant. If you notice discouragement trying to hold on and lean towards despair, or disappointment becoming more like bitterness, or if you notice yourself believing lies about God that you never really entertained before, or lies about your future, that’s because the enemy is trying everything he can to deceive you and get you to take the bait.

Jill:
07:15

He’s just always putting something else out there to try to grab your attention. Sometimes the battle isn’t what is happening around you. Sometimes the battle is what you’re beginning to believe.

Charlie:
07:29

Believe, yeah.

Jill:
07:30

Because of what is happening around you. But here’s some good news. Thank God for good news.

Charlie:
07:37

Yeah.

Jill:
07:37

Technically, the enemy is a defeated foe because Jesus defeated him at the cross. Thank you,

Charlie:
07:45

Lord. Our

Jill:
07:46

hope isn’t in our own strength or our ability to figure everything out because we cannot figure everything out. How many things have we tried to figure out? And it just doesn’t happen. And it’s not even in knowing how the story is going to end. Our hope is in Jesus, because He is our Savior.

Jill:
08:09

He’s our Redeemer. He’s the one that can take what we’ve experienced and redeem it and raise us up from the tragedy.

Charlie:
08:22

Yeah. Thank God. Amen. You know there’s a scripture in Isaiah that helps me you know because we say that God is always with us and he is and he walks with us you know some Psalm, 23 says, you know, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you know, I am with you. You know, and that’s the thing.

Charlie:
08:44

He walks with us through the pain and through the heartache and that’s knowing that can spark hope in us and get our heart to be healthier. But Isaiah 4three 19, I like this one too. He says, See, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up. Do you not perceive it?

Charlie:
09:04

I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert. I just love that because, you know, that’s hope right there, that God will make a way in the wilderness, that God will give me rivers in the desert. He will give me light in darkness. I remember I wrote that song, Seen by Faith, I think we talked a little bit about it last time, but you know the first line to that song says, I can see light in the midst of darkness. I can see hope in the face of death.

Charlie:
09:39

Those two lines, light in darkness, hope in death. And boy, we needed that. Interestingly, I didn’t say I can see life in the face of death.

Jill:
09:53

Yeah. Another one of those. And that was way before…

Charlie:
09:58

That was way before… That was twenty something years

Jill:
10:02

decades before

Charlie:
10:03

thirty years. Yeah, but but we were at Rhema Bible Training Center attending Bible College at the time. And I said, I can see hope in the face of death and that’s what we’re looking at today people we’re looking at stirring up hope stirring up our hearts to trust in God to have hope again God can make a way where we don’t see a way. He can lead you when you don’t even know where you’re going. He can do something new when you think your story is finished.

Charlie:
10:34

He’s got a new story. He certainly did that for us. Mean, we’re these musicians, worship leaders all our life, songwriters, artists, singing, preaching, all this stuff, then all of a sudden we’re like, what are we doing here? God has called us now to comfort others with the same comfort that he has comforted us with. It’s like, we didn’t know this was coming, but our story wasn’t finished.

Charlie:
10:58

We thought it was. We thought we were done. But He has written a new story and He’ll do the same for you. Sometimes it isn’t what God immediately is doing. Sometimes you can’t see what He’s immediately doing right now, but trust Him in the long run.

Charlie:
11:17

Sometimes the miracle is that He meets you there and He walks with you through it. Like I said in Psalm 23, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you know, there you are. You meet me right there. Yeah, he meets us when we’re walking through this pain and he meets you right now as you’re walking through this pain and he does have a hope and a future for you.

Jill:
11:40

That’s so true. And it’s so important because we want God to explain everything and we want to know it now. Yeah. You know, I was that way, especially in the beginning. I wanted answers.

Jill:
11:56

And I think many of us go there in our minds, even if some of us don’t actually give voice to it. You know, we want to know, what are you doing, God? When is it going to change? When is my life going to get better? How is this going to work out?

Jill:
12:12

But sometimes He doesn’t give us the explanation, but instead He gives us His presence. And He’ll say to our hearts, I am with you.

Charlie:
12:23

And

Jill:
12:23

sometimes that’s what we need the most.

Charlie:
12:27

Yeah, that’s right. He promised us his presence would never leave us. You never leave me. You never forsake me. Though my world turns upside down, your peace can still be found.

Jill:
12:38

Thank you.

Charlie:
12:38

Again, Jesus said, Behold, I am with you even into the ends of the earth. Psalm 23, like I just quoted again, you know, again and again and again. You know, I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I fear no evil for thou art with me. And then Deuteronomy 3one 18, I really like this.

Charlie:
12:55

It says, The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. The Lord will go before you.

Charlie:
13:07

You may not know what tomorrow holds, but God does.

Jill:
13:10

You

Charlie:
13:11

may not know how this situation is going to work out, your pain is going to be redeemed, but God does. You may feel like you can’t even take another step. Can’t even face tomorrow. Know, I love that old song, know, because he lives I can face tomorrow, you know, and again, we’re talking positive things about God’s love and about God’s presence, but and there’s a time and a place for it all. Really he does his presence can make us strong when I’m weak, then I am strong.

Charlie:
13:44

Scripture says, you know, takes us in our weakness and makes us strong. So don’t give up. Don’t let this season of loss define you. Don’t let it define your relationship with God. Don’t let what happened to you determine what you believe about Him.

Charlie:
14:01

Guard your heart. Protect your hope, keep believing, keep praying, keep pressing on. You wrote a song years ago, Jill, called Keep Pressing On. And that’s been a great word for us. And Paul talks about it in Philippians three.

Charlie:
14:15

He says, forgetting the things that are behind and pressing on to the things that are before. And you know, it’s not like we forget our loved ones or we forget it. You know, the pain we have to see ourselves moving forward in Christ and see ourselves pressing forward. You know, was thinking about that word press, you know, we’ve talked about it a lot, but, you know, in the gym when you, when you do bench presses do any kind of press, you know, you’ve got weight on you and you’re pushing and you’re pressing because there’s weight on you. And Paul said, keep pressing, pressing, pushing, keep fighting, don’t stop, keep pressing on in the difficulty, in the hard times.

Charlie:
15:04

And when Paul said that, he’s talking about all the stripes he got, all the beatings, he’s got all the stones, he got all the shipwrecks, he’s got all the starving, all the persecution. He said, am pressing through this pain to get to a better place, to get to the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. He saw the prize and Jesus did the same thing and it says for the joy set before him he endured the cross and you may be thinking, what Charlie, I don’t see any joy before me. Well, I understand that we’ve been there. And yet, you know, you know, sometimes we just think what we’ve lost, it’s the end.

Charlie:
15:49

In fact, I’ve been reading a lot in the Old Testament lately and I was reading how… Who was the father of Joseph again? Think I know we went through all this this morning. Who was the father of Joseph? Jacob.

Charlie:
16:04

Jacob. When Jacob thought that he had lost Joseph, he wept bitterly. And he just said, I’m gonna go to my grave with this grief and with this pain because he loved his son Joseph. He gave him the coat of many colors. He was his favorite son and, one of two sons from the wife he loved, Rebecca.

Charlie:
16:33

And so he grieved terribly. And then the story goes on. And later they said, we’ve got to take Benjamin, the Pharaoh’s servant, and saying he’s got to see Benjamin. He said, you take Benjamin from me. You’ve already taken Joseph.

Charlie:
16:48

I’ll never be able to live through this pain, he said. And then finally he says, Okay, take him. He said, in grieving, I’m grieving. I’m going to go to my deathbed in this grief. How can it get any worse?

Charlie:
17:01

Okay, just take him. And anyway, it just, you know, we understand how bitter grief can be how bitter loss can be it could because we’ve been there but we just want to encourage you to bring your bitterness to Jesus you know don’t let let it let yourself become totally hopeless. Choose. Try to take a breath and say, God, I’m gonna choose hope. I’m gonna dare to hope, as it said in Lamentations.

Charlie:
17:33

I’m not gonna let the enemy isolate me. You know, I’m gonna allow even friends to be a part of my healing journey. Sometimes we get a sometimes we want to close-up but you know we need to let certain friends say friends come along with us and help us. Yeah. And you know don’t don’t let the enemy convince you that you know God has abandoned you because he hasn’t you know he said he’d never leave you or forsake you as I read before.

Charlie:
18:00

So don’t don’t let the enemy, lie to you because your heart and what happens in here will determine your future and that’s what we’re harping on today so hard is to try to protect you from letting the enemy destroy you with, with your heart being, you know, messed up with pain and unforgiveness and bitterness.

Jill:
18:25

Yeah. Yeah. Because everything we do flows out of our heart, our entire life. And if you’re hurting right now, guarding your heart doesn’t mean pretending you’re okay. That’s not what we’re talking about.

Jill:
18:40

It means bringing your heart to Jesus, bring him your grief and your questions, Bring him your disappointment. Bring him your anger and your fear. Bring him your pain. Bring it all. Don’t surrender your hope though, because that is a big part of what will flow out of your heart is your hope.

Charlie:
19:06

That’s right. And you know, if you’re going through it right now, as Jill was saying, we don’t want to minimize that in any way because we know how hard it is. We’re not trying to tell you just be positive. We’re not just trying to say, the pain isn’t real or just get over it. We’re not saying anything like that.

Charlie:
19:27

But what we are saying is pain is not the end of your story.

Jill:
19:32

That’s

Charlie:
19:32

right. And it doesn’t have to be. And this hurt doesn’t have to define you. That’s right. And, your loss doesn’t have to define you.

Charlie:
19:42

Yes, it’ll always be a part of you, and it’ll it’ll it’ll make you a better person in reality, and you’ll never forget your loved one, but it doesn’t have to totally define you.

Jill:
19:51

That’s right.

Charlie:
19:52

In a lot of ways, it’s defined us because we came into this ministry, but really it’s not the loss it’s trying to help others get through it that defines us now what defines us now is is having compassion for you and for people who have been through this kind of pain. So don’t let your loss define you there is still hope. God is still alive. There’s still grace. There’s still a future hope for you.

Jill:
20:20

And you don’t have to have enough strength for the whole journey today. You just need to have enough strength to be able to take the next step.

Charlie:
20:30

And

Jill:
20:31

if you don’t have it, let Jesus carry you because he will. Yeah. I experienced that so much in the beginning. Let us encourage you today to keep breathing and keep believing. Keep praying and keep your heart alive.

Charlie:
20:50

Yeah. And remember also, and we said this many times throughout this whole podcast, last one and this one, Satan is trying to destroy you. Don’t be ignorant of his devices. You know, like Jill read those scriptures and she she said, you know, he… Satan comes to steal, kill, and to destroy.

Charlie:
21:11

And it says, not ignorant of his devices. And it says, you know, put on your shield and don’t realize that he’s coming to take… To to destroy you in many different ways. So another little interesting beautiful thought is when you’re weak, remember, scripture tells in Romans that Jesus is interceding for us. He makes intercession for the saints.

Charlie:
21:32

And there’s that groaning that that we can pray with groaning and with tears and with cries. And in that, you know, God can can hear our prayer, hear our lament, can hear our pain, and and he can touch us and continue to heal our hearts. So, you know, we’re when you can’t see the way forward just guard your heart and keep your heart your hope rather your heart and your hope.

Jill:
22:02

Yeah. Yeah

Charlie:
22:03

in God because he’s not finished. He is working in you both to will to do of his good pleasure. What God has begun in you he will finish it.

Jill:
22:12

Thank God.

Charlie:
22:13

And again some of this is hard to swallow depending on where you’re at in your grief journey but trust us. God loves you and he’s got a plan for your future.

Jill:
22:21

He sure does. Your story isn’t over. So let us encourage you to keep going one step at a time. Keep your hope alive and keep trusting that this will somehow get better. And let Jesus carry you when you get stuck.

Charlie:
22:40

Yeah. It’s not easy. We’re not saying it is, but we’re saying it’s important that you guard your heart and that you keep hope alive. So the scripture we’ve started with is out of Proverbs four and he says above all else above everything guard your heart. Yes.

Charlie:
23:01

For everything you do flows out of it. And like we said in the New Living, Guard your heart above all else, for everything you do flows out of it. What we’re trying to do here people is encourage you that you do have a hope you do have a future that God has plans for your life. Your life is not over the pain makes it feel like it is but yes, your loved one is past, and yes, your loved one is is a loss that hurts. You miss them.

Charlie:
23:35

We we understand that. But at some point, you gotta realize that the enemy is trying to destroy you and you can’t let him do it and you have to remember that God has hope for your future he has a plan for you for your life and that one scripture that I like so often in Proverbs twenty-three 18 it says surely, there is a hope for your future and your hope will not be cut off. I love that. There is hope for your future and your hope will not be cut off and Lord we just pray for each one Lord who’s listened to these podcasts these last couple of ones in particular about guarding their hearts God that Lord you just help them to lift their heart and lift their hope to you Lord and that they would just reach out to you the author and finisher of their faith Lord Jesus that you would spark hope in their life. Yes, spark any kind of faith, Lord.

Charlie:
24:41

Spark, let them see your love. Let them experience your comfort like they’ve never experienced before. Lord, let them feel your peace. Let them know that you’re walking with them through this Lord. We pray that they would be strengthened in Jesus name.

Charlie:
24:58

Amen. Amen. Praise the Lord. Well, God bless you. And I think we want to tell you a little bit about some things we have.

Jill:
25:07

Yeah. Again, we want to mention we’ve just come out with a video course. It’s online. All you need is a phone and iPhone or whatever kind of phone you have. Said, telephone.

Charlie:
25:22

Not a pad or a computer.

Jill:
25:23

Not a telephone, iPhone, or a pad or a computer. Anyway, it’s online. And so the link will be below. It’s an eight episode course talking to people that have experienced loss and just how to move forward. Because it’s just, you know, grief, if you haven’t walked through it before, it’s a different thing.

Jill:
25:54

And no one expects the different aspects that await a person who has just experienced a tragic loss or situation in their life. So we talk about it. It’s just honest conversation. And we believe it will really help you. The link is below.

Jill:
26:13

You can check it out there or go to our website, charlieandjill.com. We also have a book that we wrote for those that don’t know or don’t have it yet. It’s called When Loss Comes Close to Home. And this is not only good for you if you’re walking through loss, but it’s also good for those walking beside you. And it’s, it would be a nice gift for you to give to your family or your friends just so they can learn to support you better.

Jill:
26:46

And it’s not being selfish to do that. We just want people because people mean well, and they want to help us, but sometimes they just don’t help by the things

Charlie:
26:58

They don’t that how to help, yeah.

Jill:
27:00

By the things they say or the things they do. And so we have a lot of practical help in the second half of that book.

Charlie:
27:08

Yes. In fact, it reminds me, we have a dear friend that just lost her mother. I think it was her father. And she said, I thought about you guys. And I thought, I don’t know what to say to my mom.

Charlie:
27:19

I don’t know how to encourage her. I don’t know how to love her. And so she said, I know Charlie and Jill have that in their book. She said, but I don’t have time to read the book because I need to know right now how to administer to my mom. And so what did she do?

Jill:
27:37

Did she put…

Charlie:
27:38

I think she put it in chat.

Jill:
27:39

The whole, yeah. She went to chat.

Charlie:
27:42

And said, Hey.

Jill:
27:43

And she said, Charlie and Jill LeBlanc’s book, When Loss Comes Close to Home, tell me from that book how I can help my mother who just lost her husband.

Charlie:
27:54

Yeah. And chat came up with like five things to say and not to say and how to minister to her and how to love her and not try to fix her.

Jill:
28:00

That was great.

Charlie:
28:01

And she got blessed, is birthing a

Jill:
28:04

I’m book that we’re getting ready to writing two new books right now. One is that exact thing of just how to help people that are walking through loss. It’s just a short book and very simple. And then the other one is for people that are walking through loss. And it’s just a, we’re calling it a companion for the dark days and difficult days of grief.

Jill:
28:34

And it’s not as extensive as our first book, but it’ll just be there to help you as you walk through. So those are coming. Yeah. So

Charlie:
28:44

stay on our mailing list, or if you’re not on it, get on our mailing list because that’s where we’ll be communicating with you. Please give us a thumbs up on this podcast, share it with your friends. Got a little bell on YouTube. Ding your little bell so you don’t miss any of them. We also have, a monthly partner program where we encourage, where we receive donations from people like yourselves.

Charlie:
29:07

If you’ve been helped in any way and you can help us help others, that would really, really be a blessing. So we do take, donations, nonprofit organization and monthly partners as well. So we encourage you to become a part of what we’re doing. So thank you again so much for joining us today and, and, you know, receiving the things that we have to share. And we pray that God will continue to help you through your journey.

Jill:
29:37

Absolutely. God bless you. Yes.