Books have always spoken into my life, but some of them are literally life-changing and transforming.

The Bible stands out as the main means by which God brings His restoration and healing into our lives.

For the words within its pages are Life and Truth itself, messages from God’s heart to my own and to all mankind.

All other books I read pale into insignificance by way of comparison.

Though they still have a great deal to enlighten, inform and teach me.

One such book is a pre-launch copy of Mary de Muth’s latest book, ‘The Wall Around Your Heart’, which I’ve been privileged to read.

It soon presented a personal challenge as I began to see the walls I’d erected around my heart without knowing it.

They had been there so long it that I’d grown accustomed to them, seeing them as normal for who I was at times or missing them altogether.

And as I kept reading, it was clear God was asking me to face the fact of their existence and work with Him in bringing them down.

It hurt. Everything inside me protested. This was way too hard.

Thankfully, God deals with each one of us individually,  gently yet thoroughly.

As I made a decision to co-operate (when it became abundantly clear it was essential to do so), God began that deep excavation work He excels at….one small brick at a time….and walls have begun to wobble and shake.

They’re not down yet –  but we’re getting there.

The poem below was written a few weeks ago in response to this awakening.

Maybe you can relate to some of it.

If so, I would like to encourage you to consider how to overcome the walls you may have erected around your own heart.

Left unattended, they are prisons holding us back from living free and uncaged lives.

We are designed for so much more than this. Jesus died to set us free in every way possible.

Let’s aim to have a foretaste of heaven on earth as we learn to live as overcomers by God’s power, grace and strength.

‘Wall around my heart’

There is a wall

around my heart

hardening from hurt and pain

stony through suffering and shame

growing taller, thicker by the year

until I feel

I could disappear

beneath its weight

enclosed

entombed

suffocating shadow

looming over all my days

It’s a covering

a carapace, concealing

raw, soft vulnerability

within, a tender place

of wounding through words

and deeds of others

whose target struck and

stuck fast as shield impenetrable

stiff, unyielding rock

sheer cliff

to topple and destroy

all who may

approach this land

where I dwell

with drawbridge up, castle

fortified, defended, safe

as houses, built on sand

©JoyLenton2013

Today is the official launch day for ‘The Wall Around Your Heart’.

To find out more about the book and why it was written, click here.

To order/buy your own copy you can click here.

I will be blogging about its impact on my life in more detail over at Words of Joy later this week.

Linking here with Kate and Mari-Anna