Episode 10: A Heart Fully Alive: Living the Life Jesus Always Intended

Welcome back to the Wholehearted Woman Podcast. I'm Chris Ray, and this is your heart room, a place where your story is safe, where healing is not a failure of faith. When we're together, we discover what it means to live with a heart fully alive in Christ. If you're joining me for the first time, welcome! I'm so glad you're here. Are you new to a heart fully alive? I encourage you to begin with episode one. This season has been one continuous journey, and each episode has been another step along the path. Today is a little different. When we started this journey together, I thought I was simply telling you my story. The story of a little girl listening for footsteps, the story of searching for healing, the story of finding Jesus, the story of discovering that nothing was wasted. But somewhere along the way, I realized this was never just my story. It was God's invitation. An invitation to every woman who has ever asked, can my heart really be healed? And today I'd like us to pause just for a moment and look back at where we've been. Not to relive the past, but to see what God has been doing all along. Because when we look back through his eyes, we often discover that he was writing a far more beautiful story than we realized while we were living it. Let's dig in. Over this last season, we discovered some amazing and important things together that I'd like for us to remember. We discovered that brokenness is not the end. Searching is not failure. Needing healing is not a failure of faith. That Jesus pursues us long before we know we were even looking for him. That nothing is wasted in the hands of a redeeming God, that although every wound has a voice, every wound does not get the final word. And that Jesus has a voice too. And when we begin believing what he says, our identity begins changing. And as our identity changes, the way we live begins changing too. In a nutshell, that has been our journey. But today I'd like to answer one final question. So what does a heart fully alive actually look like? Because I think sometimes we imagine wholehearted living means we've arrived, that we've finally reached a place where we never struggle again. We never cry, never doubt, never wrestle. But that's not what I've discovered. I've discovered a heart fully alive isn't a heart that never hurts. It isn't a heart that never struggles. It isn't a heart that never asks questions. A heart fully alive is a heart that keeps turning toward Jesus again and again and again. Wholehearted living isn't perfection. It's relationship. It's waking up every morning and saying, Jesus, I need you today. It's learning to trust him one step at a time with a new beginning. It's choosing his voice over the voice of fear that constantly wants to knock on our door, his truth over the voice of shame, his love over the voice of rejection. It's allowing him to keep forming us into the woman he created us to be. And I'd like to ask you something. What if a heartfully alive still cries, but no longer loses hope? What if a heartfully alive still feels fear but chooses trust anyway? What if a heartfully alive still experiences pain, but no longer allows pain to define our identity? What if a heartfully alive still struggles, but no longer struggles alone? I think that's what we've been discovering together. Not a life without difficulty, a life with Jesus right in the middle of it. And I believe that's what changes everything. Everything we've talked about this season has been preparing us for something because healing was never meant to end with listening to a podcast. Healing becomes a way of life. It's something we walk out, it's something we practice, something we continue discovering every single day as we walk with Christ. And over the coming weeks and months, I'd love to continue walking that journey with you. Because I believe God has so much more He wants to reveal, not only about Himself, but about who we are in Him. And so we'll go deeper in the next few weeks. And I'd like to end in a prayer. Father, thank you. Thank you for every woman who has walked this journey with us. Thank you that you are the author and the finisher of our faith. Thank you that you have never stopped pursuing us. Your word says in Philippians 1 6 that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Lord, today we rest in that promise. We don't have to finish what only you can complete. We don't have to strive to become someone you've already declared us to be. Help us simply keep saying yes. Keep listening, keep trusting, keep following. And as you continue healing our hearts, teach us what it truly means to live with a heart fully alive. In Jesus' name. Amen. So, friend, if you've walked with me through these 10 episodes, I sincerely thank you. My prayer isn't that you'll remember my story, it's that you'll begin seeing your own story differently because he's writing your story too. And because the same God who met me is pursuing you. The same shepherd who called my name knows yours. The same Savior who has been restoring my heart is faithful to restore yours. Healing doesn't happen because we hear one podcast. It happens as we continue walking with Jesus one faithful step at a time. If today's conversation stirred something in your heart, I'd love to invite you to continue the journey with me. You can visit HearttoHeart Ministry.com where you'll find additional resources designed to help you move from simply hearing truth to living it every day. And if you're looking for a place to continue growing alongside other woman, I'd love for you to connect with me on my Facebook page, The Wholehearted Woman. So keep walking, keep listening, keep trusting, because this isn't the end of the journey. It's not the end of your story. It's only the beginning of a life lived with a heart fully alive. So until next time, you are seen, you are deeply loved, and the shepherd is still speaking. I'll see you soon.