In the early morning hours of July 29th, back in 1981, I was a groggy headed, awkward twelve year girl sneaking my way down my grandparents' dark hallway with excited determination to watch the live televised broadcast of the royal wedding. I was eager and down right giddy to witness the beautiful lady Di become a real life princess. I soaked in every minute wondering what it would be like . . . to be all grown up and to walk down that amazing aisle in her wedding slippers. So many dreams and wonderful wishes for the newlywed couple. The future looked so very bright and happy. Since I was raised on Disney films, I genuinely believed in the fairytale version of happily ever after.

Jump ahead thirty-four years and I now find myself a forty-six year old wife, mother of two boys and cancer survivor. A lot has happened since that royal wedding day. I finally got to be "all grown up" and discovered life was much more difficult than I imagined as a young preteen. Marriage was hard, being a parent was hard and sometimes just getting through the day was an accomplishment in and of itself. I soon realized the fairytale was just that, a big tale. So I learned to do my best and keep going day after day, trying to make wise decisions and choices.

Then all of the sudden and without warning, there it was, the upsetting eighteen year old headline laid out on my dining room table, that brought back a flood of memories. We were celebrating my nephew's eighteenth birthday, when after dinner he opened up his time capsule that my husband had prepared for him after his birth. Immediately my heart was heavy and sad just looking over the front page. I realized I was now ten years older than the Princess that I grew up watching. She died at the young age of thirty-six, way too soon.

After her death, she was referred to as the Queen of Hearts and The People's Princess. It was ironic that she died of injuries to her heart, more specifically a tear in the left pulmonary vein that connected blood flow from her left lung to her heart. She was quoted as saying, "Follow your heart." That always sounded good, for she was well known for her many acts of kindness, good works, charity and a deep love for her two boys.

While recovering from my cancer surgery, I decided to read two books, The Day Diana Died by Christopher Anderson and Diana by Andrew Morton.  I had bought the books about a year after her passing but had never read them until the late summer of 2013. I felt so much empathy for her and also deep sadness over choices made by her and others that ultimately lead to her death.  

I won't dissect her life and point out her mistakes, for hindsight is 20/20 and none of us want our lives to be examined and judged by others that have never walked in our shoes. I can, however, dissect my own experiences with following my heart and share the hard lessons I have learned. My heart has very selfish tendencies and that has gotten me in trouble many times. Which often makes me wonder, does any one of us have a truly good heart that can be a dependable compass for leading us in the right direction? My heart wants what it wants and it wants to run wild and untamed, but that means others will get hurt and ultimately, I will pay a heavy price as well.

I recently read an article titled, Don't Follow Your Heart by Jon Bloom and was rather relieved that I wasn't alone in my thoughts on this subject. If only my heart was as good as I desire it to be. My heart is like a lion in a circus cage, and the trainer with the whip is my human efforts to keep things under control. Just looking at the magazine covers below reminds me that my heart was obsessed with Diana around the time of her death. I had seen her images all through my growing up years, yet I never really knew her but felt as though I had. It was strange. When she died in 1997, I was twenty-eight and coming out of a very bad and self destructive phase of my life. I was starting to listen less to the yearnings of my heart and pay more attention to the voice I had first known as young child.

As I was going through these magazines, I found the book, Invitation to a Royal Wedding by Kathryn Spink that my mother had bought for me. I was in awe of the prayers that were spoken that day over the young couple. The line . . . open the hearts . . .  to the riches of his grace, especially jumped off the page to me.

The One to follow wants to come into our hearts and make His dwelling there. He knows all our hearts are in need of Him and so I will trust Him, He who is faithful and true, to lead me instead of following my heart, which has failed me before so many times.

Proverbs 3:5-7 - Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. (KJV

Proverbs 4:23 - Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it [are] the issues of life.

​For more of The Word on Following Your Heart, click on this link.

​Interested in a Heart Makeover?
​
With Love,

Christina

Stay humble & BOLD!

​"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."  Psalm 119:105

To check out my testimony click here
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Find me on twitter @humble_bold ​
​On Pinterest at humble&BOLD by Christina


There are battles, wars and terrible news all around us, so how do we cope? The answer is simple, but we often find ourselves spending our time worrying, letting the anxiety rule over our thoughts and allowing the stress to manifest itself in our physical bodies. Can you relate? I know I can. So how do we fight back?

Corrie Ten Boom once asked, "Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?" What a great question!
Intentional and consistent contact with our Creator is key to our survival and successful navigation through this flawed world. That doesn't mean we won't have hardships or trials. It means He will direct our paths and we don't have to go it alone. In fact, we were never meant to go it alone. So go humbly before the Lord with a thankful heart and listen to Him and do it often.

Prayer, It is your best weapon!

If your not sure who to pray to, click here!

Christina

To find my facebook page, click on humble & bold.

Stay humble & be BOLD!

Three days ago, I felt this strong persistant urge to look up the meaning of the name, Cecil, and what I discovered truly rocked my world! Was Cecil's death a wake up call for all of us? And what are the odds, that there would be a lion, named Cecil, with a close relationship to another male lion, named Jericho, in the world news during this time in history? Keep those questions in mind as I share the meanings and connections. By the way, Jericho the lion, according to National Geographic, is alive and well. He is not the actual brother of Cecil, but the two of them had a strong bond and special type of brotherhood, as the link above shares. There is also reason to believe that Jericho will lead Cecil's cubs as well as his own.

                                          Photo by Christina Myers, circa August 1991, from Republic of Kenya, Nairobi Animal Orphanage.

So I visited several sites and the Latin, English and American meanings for the name, Cecil, are blind and sixth. The blind meaning really struck me, because Cecil was reportedly lured away and then killed. He was not aware of the danger lying before him. Many of us have been mislead and blinded over the years and have also witnessed family, friends and strangers going down a dangerous, deceptive path. In regards to the meaning of sixth, it is interesting that the number of man is six and relates to human weakness. The meaning of the name, Cecil, reveals that man is blind.

Then I looked up the meaning of the name, Jericho, and this was the moment I realized something bigger was being revealed. Jericho's name means place of fragrance or moon. When I saw fragrance, I thought of Jesus and when I saw moon, I thought of the four blood moons, three of which have already happened. Then . . . just below the meanings listed, was a small commentary on how Jesus visited Jericho on his last journey to Jerusalem before his crucifixion and healed two blind men. WOW! When Jesus returns, He will be coming back to Jerusalem. Is He giving those who do not recognize Him now, the opportunity to see Who He is before His return? Yes, I believe so. This site said he healed two blind men. These accounts can be found in Matthew 20:29-34, of the men together, in Mark 10:46-52, giving the name of one man as Bartimaeus and also in Luke 18: 35-43, giving no name for the other man.

Mark 10:46-52 English Standard Version (ESV) Jesus Heals Blind Bartimaeus
46 And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. 47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.” 50 And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51 And Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man said to him, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” 52 And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.

Luke 18:35-43 New International Version (NIV) A Blind Beggar Receives His Sight
35 As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. 36 When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. 37 They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. 38 He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 39 Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 40 Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, 41 “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord, I want to see,” he replied. 42 Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you." 43 Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.

Also, interesting is that the name, Jesus, is the Greek version of the Hebrew name, Joshua, who is famously associated with marching seven days around the city of Jericho, in the Old Testament. (Jericho is now referred to as the City of Palms.) In my research, the number seven represents perfection and completion. Man's number was six since he was created on the sixth day and God's number is considered to be one. God's number plus the number of man equals seven, which is also considered the number of God and completion.  All this on top of the fact that lions are mentioned many times in the Bible and so is the state of being blind. God is revealing the condition of our hearts, calling out to us, through two lions named, Cecil and Jericho, because He loves us and He wants to show us the condition of our own hearts. We don't have to stay spiritually blind. We can call out to God for mercy and ask Him to remove our blindness!

The photo used above, is to illustrate that in life and in the Bible, sometimes things look black and white and the truth seems very obvious. When looking at the first picture, one might think it is of a deceased Cecil, but it actually is of a sleeping lion with a dark mane, just like Cecil's, but whose photo was taken in 1991, while being cared for by an animal orphanage in Nairobi.  Just like in the photo below, after humbling ourselves and asking God, He suddenly gives us vibrant sight and a revelation to see in a way we never before could.  I love this picture, for it always reminds me of the character, Aslan, from The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, who was a picture of Jesus, The Lion of Judah.

So maybe you made it all the way down to here and are thinking, why Jesus? What is it about Him that people love or hate? I hope you ask Him. He will answer if you sincerely call out to Him.