Breaking Your Own Heart

Breaking Your Own Heart By Baylor Barbee & Trent Shelton

Copyright © 2012 by Rehab Time Organization; Baylor Barbee and Trent Shelton. All Rights Reserved. Photography by Maria Castro Cover Model - Anne Castro Edited by Stacy Walters No portion of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. www.RehabTime.org

To You, The Broken Heart

Table of Contents Introduction................................................................................................................................... 5 Trust Those Who Have Proven Themselves Untrustworthy....................................................... 6 Changing Who You are to Satisfy Others While Neglecting Yourself.......................................... 8 Expecting a Different Result When the Situation Doesn’t Change........................................... 10 Knowingly Repeating Mistakes You Thought You’d Learned from in the Past....................... 12 Keep Searching for Signs When You Already Have Reasons.................................................... 14 “Knowing the Right Path, yet Choosing the Wrong One”........................................................... 16 Staying for All the Wrong Reasons When You Have All the Right Reasons to Leave................ 18 Trusting Words, Ignoring Actions............................................................................................... 20 Giving Your All to Someone Who Deserves Nothing from You.................................................. 22 Ignoring Your Heart..................................................................................................................... 24 ABOUT REHAB TIME
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Introduction “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” Proverbs 4:23 How many times have you cried tears into your pillowcase with a broken heart shouting, “WHY DID I LET THIS HAPPEN AGAIN?!” We’ve all been there, shed those tears and felt that heartache. You’re tired of having your heart broken, aren’t you? You’re tired of the nonsense, right? The hardest concept to grasp in dealing with broken hearts is this simple fact: You break your own heart. Now hold on; before you close this book right here realize this is a good thing. If the world is always breaking your heart, you’re merely a victim. Admitting that you break your own heart implies that you are in control and capable of changing the situation. …Sounds better, right? We understand that in the hustle and bustle of everyday life you don’t have time to read hundreds of pages to find the answers to your questions. We also understand that most of the time you’re capable of solving your own problems, if you’re asked the correct question. Do you read the owners manual, from front to back, when you buy a car? No. You usually only read the sections that you don’t understand. This isn’t your traditional book. It’s a manual for your heart. You don’t have to read it all the way

through. You can skip directly to the chapter that relates to what you’re dealing with, and find ways to cope with your issue. More importantly, you’ll find questions and thoughts that will aid you in finding your own solutions. Only you know your heart. This manual is geared toward letting your heart answer the right questions, and lead you in the right direction.

Trust Those Who Have Proven Themselves Untrustworthy We’ve all heard it before, “Trust me. I’ve changed. You can count on me this time.” What happens next? The person lets us down again. We knew in our hearts how the aforementioned situation would end before it even started, yet we knowingly allow ourselves to be let down time after time. One thing most people fail to notice is it’s only the untrustworthy people who ask for trust. Those who are trustworthy demonstrate it day in and day out. Ask yourself the following questions: - Would you give the keys to your new car to an individual who had never driven before? - Would you take private lessons from someone who had zero experience in the skill you wished to learn? - Would you go to a doctor that had never studied medicine? Obviously, the answer is no, yet for some reason we continually give our trust to those who have never demonstrated it. In Proverbs 4:23, Solomon states, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” Trust is always a gamble. Anytime you give your heart to another there is

always a chance you can be manipulated or hurt. If you knew every time you drove down a certain road you would hit a pothole and blow out a tire; would you keep driving down that road? No. Trust is the same way. Certain people have a history of untrustworthiness and manipulation, and it is more than likely that they’ll break your trust again. Guard your heart. Jesus did say if you are wronged to turn the other cheek, but He never said to keep walking back and taking the abuse from the same person. Forgiveness is mandatory. You should always forgive. However, second, third, and more chances are optional. You wouldn’t hand over a weapon to someone who had shot you in the past. Would you? Nor would you trust your finances to someone who buried you in debt before? How much more important is your heart? What you have to realize is the feeling of “lack of trust,” is toxic and it spreads. It’s a cancer. You may think that you just have one person in your life that is untrustworthy, but since you know it, it’s ok to hang out with them. However, every time they break that trust, the cancer spreads a little deeper inside you, killing you from the inside out. Don’t believe it? Ladies, how many of you have been cheated on, and now you don’t trust any new guy you meet, or you have an “all guys are the same” attitude? Are all guys really the same, or is that toxic untrustworthiness from your past clouding your vision? Men, how many of you have been cheated on before and now when your new girlfriend misses a phone call you automatically start thinking the worst? Lack of trust is toxic. The number one red flag that identifies an untrustworthy person is if that person asks you the simple question, “Do You Trust Me?” If they have done

nothing to break that trust, then there would be no reason to ask the question. More often than not, this question is asked by someone who has broken your trust, merely to see where he or she stands. They are asking this question to see what your limits are, and to see how much they can get away with. At the end of the day, it is you that allows your trust to be a broken a second time. Don’t break your heart by giving trust away easily to those who have habitually broken it. Trust is earned, not given. Trust is earned through actions, not words. Remember to guard your heart, and don’t leave the gates to your heart open for someone who has proven time after time that they are going to destroy it.

Changing Who You are to Satisfy Others While Neglecting Yourself Those that strive to merely “take” from you will preach to you the importance of giving. It is important to give to, and to try and uplift others. However, many of us confuse the endless pursuit of satisfaction for giving and uplifting. Have you ever tried to please someone who, no matter what you did, was never satisfied? You might have cooked their favorite meal, yet they complained about dessert. You may have bent your back over time and time again for someone, yet they berate you for the one time you weren’t there. It breaks your heart, doesn’t it? You might think it’s because you want so desperately to please them, or you might think your heart is broken because what you are doing is never enough. This may be the case, but more than likely, deep down, you’re upset because you’re sacrificing who you are for what someone else wants. If someone makes you feel as if you’re not good enough there is a high probability they’re not good enough to be in your life. Jeremiah 1:5 says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

God has a clear-cut purpose for your life and neglecting your needs or sacrificing who He made you at the expense of others “self-satisfaction” is not His purpose... Have you ever tried so hard to please someone that when you look in the mirror one day you didn’t recognize your reflection? - What good is it to put smiles on faces only to have tears run down your own face? - What good is it to please the world if you don’t please the One who matters? - What good is it to chase the wind? Unfortunately, by trying to please people who don’t know what they want or what would satisfy them, we chase the wind. You wouldn’t waste your time trying to catch a fistful of water in a lake, would you? Of course not! It would slip through your hands and all you would have accomplished was wasted time and looking silly. Why change yourself to satisfy others? It’s the same thing. Your job on earth is to be used by God to spread His message, not to please others. You can do this by surrounding yourself by those who accept you for who you are; for whom God made you. You must also make sure that those who accept you for you are also accepting you for who you’re not. Set a standard. If they can’t treat you in accordance to those two roles, you should suggest they find someone else to fill that role. It’s not going to be you. Remember God has a plan for you to prosper, and be happy. The further you move away from who you are, the lonelier you will feel, despite how good or bad life seems. This is because when you get away from whom you are, you drift away from who God intended you to be; who He created to have a relationship with.

You were not made to satisfy the opinions and expectations of others, so don’t neglect yourself for their happiness.

Expecting a Different Result When the Situation Doesn’t Change Would you continue to gamble at a casino where you had never won a dollar? Would you frequently go to a restaurant that always misplaced your order or served bad food? Would you try a diet that had worked for absolutely no one? Of course not! You know you’re not going to get a different result from the same old situation. Albert Einstein said it best when he said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result.” We don’t apply that principle when it comes to the things that matter, our hearts, souls and lives. How many times in life have you given a relationship one more chance although neither of you did anything differently since the last time it didn’t work out. You go into the relationship casually because you know it’s going to end…again. It will inevitably end just as it had in the past. Even worse, you go into it with your all and are left hurt again, even though you knew what the result would be before you started. It’s a common misconception that time heals all. If you break a bone and do nothing about it, the bone may heal, but not correctly. It won’t repair itself in the way it is supposed to in

order to function correctly. How much more sensitive is a broken heart? If you allow time alone to heal it, it may mend and scar, but it won’t fully heal. Just like a broken bone, you have to be proactive in fixing the situation in order for your heart to heal correctly. - Without any action, the cheater that has always cheated is not going to magically be faithful this time. - Without any action, the abusive significant other is not going to suddenly become loving and mild-mannered this time. - Without action, the unhealthy relationship that keeps failing will not somehow, by chance, be healthy this time. There’s a reason they call it, “this time around.” “Around” means to go and come back to the same place you started. Too many of us treat our relationships like track meets. We finish right where we took off. McDonalds isn’t selling tacos, Taco Bell isn’t selling Big Macs, and that won’t change. Your past is set in its ways, and it’s not changing either. Stop merely hoping it will be different this time; stop running back to the person your heart ran from in the first place. Judge your relationships and their growth based on what is happening in them now. Judge them by their actions, not their words. If the person you are with claims to be closer to God this time but they haven’t gone to church that’s a red flag. If they claim they’ve matured this time but continue to go to the same clubs every night, and hang with the same people that were problems in the past, that’s another red flag. Without a different action, you’ll always get the same result. If you want to break your heart, put your hand on the same hot stove expecting it, for some reason, to be cold this time.

Trust what you know. You’re too smart and your heart is too important to be yanked around.

Knowingly Repeating Mistakes You Thought You’d Learned from in the Past Roman philosopher George Santayana said it best, “Those that cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.” Have you ever seen Lance Armstrong and the men of the Tour De France ride their bikes with training wheels? No, because they learned from their falls and mistakes how not to repeat the same scenarios. They learned what didn’t work, and it helped them to ride correctly. When you were younger perhaps you played Super Mario Brothers on Nintendo or some sort of video game. You remember the excitement of getting to the last evil boss character, and you probably died the first couple of times. The boss seemed impossible. What eventually happened? You learned what didn’t work, and you went in with a new strategy. After a while, that boss seemed easy to take down. Why? It’s because you didn’t repeat the same mistakes that caused you to fail, but instead stuck with the route that worked. Hence, strategy was born. Now obviously video games are a silly example, but ask yourself this: Why is it that you learn from your mistakes in

something as insignificant as a video game, yet for some reason knowingly repeat mistakes that break your heart? It’s not just your heart but also the important things it encompasses. - How many times have you made the mistake of telling yourself you are going to start eating right or exercising next week only to look in the mirror a year later and hate what you see? - How many times have you been bailed out of a negative financial situation and promised yourself that you were going to start saving money? Instead, unfortunately, you are still buying frivolous things, only to be in the exact situation the following month? - How many Decembers have you wasted away by telling yourself that when the new year rolls around you’re going to really focus and achieve your resolutions? Do you honestly even remember what your resolutions were by the time February comes around? Resolutions are usually things we set because we know we need to improve something about ourselves. They are changes we know we need to make. These often arise from mistakes we know we’ve made, such as ignoring our health or mismanaging our money. Yet all too often we change nothing. We walk back into the same mistake that hurt us in the past. In relationships most people have what they consider “their type.” However, if you date the same kind of people that you met at the same kind of places, you can’t blame them for breaking your heart time and time again. You can only blame yourself. Why? You allowed yourself to be in the situation again, not learning from the mistake you made last time. How many times have you had this pep talk with yourself:

“I’m changing right now; I won’t let this happen again!” The pep talk is good, due to the fact that you recognize your mistake, but if you have to keep having that talk with yourself, you’re not learning. You’re breaking your own heart. Simply telling yourself you’ve learned from a mistake does nothing. You have to make a conscious effort to not repeatedly make the same error until it becomes habit. If you don’t, you’re not only hurting yourself and breaking your heart; you’re going to affect the relationships of those around you. You shed tears in order to find out what you love. Don’t go through the pain for nothing. Don’t be the boy who cried wolf. Learn from your mistakes and avoid the heartbreak.

Keep Searching for Signs When You Already Have Reasons Wheel of Fortune is the longest running syndicated show on television. You’ve no doubt seen it. Contestants guess letters until they think they know what the puzzle is and then they solve it. Once a contestant thinks they know the answer, do they continue guessing letters until all the letters have shown up on the board? No, when they think they know the answer they solve the puzzle. They don’t waste time. When you were little and played hide-and-go-seek, you were probably “it” at one time or another. Your job was to find the other people before they got to base. Did you ever find someone and stand there looking for them again? No, you found the other people. It would be pointless to find the people that you’ve already found wouldn’t it? For some reason, many of us break our own hearts by searching for more signs, when we’ve already solved the puzzle. In your life, you are the judge and the jury. When you have all the evidence you need in a situation or with a particular person, why would you continue to look for more clues? You learned a long time ago that 1+1 = 2, 2+2=4; ALWAYS. You don’t ever go back and look at that simple math problem

and try and find a way for it to equal something else do you? You don’t because it’s a concrete fact that it won’t change. Red flags are those concrete numbers that you learned in math. If the person you’re dating has cheated on you numerous times and continues to hide their phone and forbids you to see it, that’s a red flag. If that same person ignores your calls all night, and shows up at your house really late at night refusing to tell you where they were, that’s a red flag. Those red flags are waving loudly in your face telling you, “THIS IS NOT A GOOD SITUATION. RUN!” Somehow, many of us try and ignore red flags in hopes that somewhere on life’s superhighway there is a big billboard spelling out the answer to the situation we’re in. Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever driven down the road and seen a big billboard that said, “Hey you, here’s the answer to your situation you’re dealing with right now.” No, there are no signs, but life has given you plenty of reasons. You shouldn’t have to question whether or not things are real. If you have to ask, something isn’t right. Have you ever ignored that “low tire” gauge for a long time and had a blow out as a result? Have you ever ignored what you told yourself was a small cough or headache, and it turned into a full-blown sickness? Life gives us several “warning lights” when something is wrong. If we ignore them thinking they’ll improve, we will have blowouts. We will have heartbreaks. Warning lights don’t just appear because they feel like it; they appear because something is truly wrong. They appear for the same reason that you recognize those red flags in your life, because something is truly wrong. When the “low tire” light comes on you don’t just stare at

your dashboard and wait for some other sign to confirm what that red light is saying, do you? Stop searching for signs when you already have confirmation! Your life is like a wheel of fortune. If you know the answer and refuse to solve the puzzle, eventually you’ll land on “bankrupt.”

“Knowing the Right Path, yet Choosing the Wrong One” In The Wizard of Oz, the munchkins made it very clear for Dorothy. “Follow the Yellow Brick Road. Follow the Yellow brick Road.” They let her know that it was indeed the correct path and would lead her to her destination, The Wizard. What would have happened if she veered off course and took the wrong path? She would have ended up lost, confused, and far from home. By veering off the path, she would have affected others, too. Lion wouldn’t have gotten his courage, Scarecrow wouldn’t have received his brain, and Tin Man wouldn’t have gotten a heart. Too often in our own lives, we ignore the yellow brick road and instead take our own dark, unpaved path. Have you ever gone on a trip with a group of friends and known that the person in the lead took the wrong exit or was going the wrong way? If so, there’s a good chance you didn’t continue following them down the wrong route. You called them, honked, waved, or did something to let them know they had veered off the correct path. You may have that stubborn friend that insists he’s going the right way even though you, your other friends, and the GPS are all screaming that he’s incorrect. You get upset, right?

God gets upset when He honks His horn at us when we veer off course. You don’t have to create your own path in life. God has already created a Master Plan for you. All you have to do is follow His instruction and you’ll arrive at your destination. Many of us veer off the path because it’s hard. God never said it would be easy. He said it would it’d be worth the effort. The path of least resistance is often the wrong path. Dorothy faced witches and all kinds of obstacles on the path to her destination, but it was worth it in the end. When you’re traveling, you know that missing an exit or taking a detour not only gets you lost, but also causes you to take a lot longer to reach your destination. If you ignore the map or your GPS you often end up lost and/or going the completely wrong way. God is your GPS, God’s Purpose Served. He will always point you in the right direction, and He will let you know when you’re off course. He wants to keep you on the right path because though it may have its share of problems or traffic; it is the safest route to get you to where He wants you to go. There’s a reason that restaurants, malls, and big businesses are located alongside the highway; it is prime real estate. The best businesses are in the most desirable locations. God has a map for your life, and He purposely puts the best blessings on the right path. When you take your own path (the wrong one), you not only put yourself in danger, but you miss out on the biggest blessings. Unfortunately, our impatience or our fears make us veer off the road and settle. When you get lost and need food or gas, you settle for whatever you can find. When we veer off the right path in life, we settle for the “whatever we can find”

blessings versus the great ones God wants for us. You wouldn’t ignore the directions on a trip, why ignore it in life’s journey from the GPS that has never made a mistake?

Staying for All the Wrong Reasons When You Have All the Right Reasons to Leave When baby elephants are born in captivity, their handlers tie a chain around their foot and drive a stake into the ground. Since the elephants are little they can’t escape the chain. They’re simply not strong enough, but then something happens. Eventually the elephant gives up trying to break out of the chain. The elephant grows to be huge but is still bound by the same small chain. The elephant could break loose now, but it still believes the chain is too strong and there is no way it can escape. Just because you think you can’t, doesn’t mean you couldn’t if you tried. An alcoholic can’t fathom life without alcohol to solve problems until they walk away from drinking. Those in abusive relationships don’t’ think they could ever live without the other person until they find the courage to walk away. Ask yourself this: “if your house were burning down, would you stay in the house and burn with it, simply because all of your belongings were in the house?” No, you’d run out as fast as you can. Staying in situations for the wrong reasons is arguably the easiest way to break your own heart. Your heart is a house in

a sense. Have you ever been so hurt or so mad at someone that you got heated? Probably so, that’s your heart catching fire, telling you to exit as quickly as possible! No matter how strong you think you are, if you continue to stay in that “burning house” relationship, or situation, your heart will burn up. Adding up wrong reasons can never give you a right result. Many people say, “This is all I know.” WRONG. It’s all you choose to know. Too often we try and play dumb or hide from the truth in order to be the victim. “Woe is me,” right? The funny thing about truth is that you can hide from it as long as you’d like, but it’s still there and it’s not leaving. If wrong living is all you know, you had better learn a new way of life. Sex isn’t worth the loneliness, financial security isn’t worth the abuse, and an occasional smile isn’t worth the mountain of tears. Many of us stay in situations for the wrong reasons so long that it not only beats us down, it alters our view of what the top is for us. God made you to soar with eagles and reach mountaintops, true mountaintops. When you’re in a situation or relationship for the wrong reason, you get beaten down into a valley so low that your idea of “the top” is what is actually is just level ground. You’re going back to “square one.” Often when you do fight to get back to average, you’re worn out. Then what happens? You fall back into the pit you just climbed out of and start thinking, “This is as good as it gets.” You then settle for less than you deserve. Wrong reasons have one goal – to hold you captive. Right reasons have one purpose – to improve your life. You can only choose to follow one, which will it be?

Trusting Words, Ignoring Actions Have you ever watched a film that clearly had voiceovers in another language, and did not use the voices of the original actors? It loses its believability doesn’t it, since the video doesn’t match the audio? Would you believe someone who said they played for your favorite sports team, even though you had never even heard of them? Would you believe someone who bragged about his or her wealth, yet always asked to borrow money? Of course not! Their actions don’t match what they’re saying. However, again, we disregard that when it comes to our personal lives and believe words without actions even though the actions almost always point to the opposite side of the words. Words can mislead. Words caused Eve to be misled by Satan. Meanwhile, actions reveal. It’s easy for people to say what they’re committed to in their lives. Their actions show that commitment. It’s easy for people to say what they value, but their actions always show what they truly value. You’ve heard the phrase, “Practice what you preach.” However, in our society most preach, but when it’s time to practice, they don’t show up. “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk only leads to poverty.” – Proverbs 14:23 Work is an action and anything that is worthwhile requires

work. Talking leads to poverty, meaning words alone are worth nothing. You’ve probably been in a short relationship full of passion because he or she always whispered those sweet nothings and told you what you wanted to hear. Think about that; words are called “sweet nothings” for a reason. They’re not worth anything. You can’t pay your mortgage and your bills off of your word alone; it takes money, it takes substance. For that same reason, a relationship won’t work off of words alone; it takes work, it takes action. It takes a lot more than “sweet nothings” to be everlasting. It’s easier said than done because most people don’t even attempt to “do.” It’s easy to say “I’m sorry,” but if you repeat the transgression you were supposedly sorry for, are you really sorry? What most people don’t realize is that “I’m sorry” is an action. If not, then it’s just a phrase, smoke and mirrors, meaningless. The best way to avoid breaking your own heart is to start “listening” with your eyes, not your ears. What you see is more authentic than what you hear. Look for “I love you;” don’t listen for it. Looks for “I’ll always be there;” don’t listen for it. - What good is love if you don’t feel it? - What good is an apology if you don’t feel it? - What good is a promise if it’s not acted upon? It’s often said that the windows are the eyes to the soul. It is important to listen to your heart. It’s important to follow your intuition. The best way to listen to your heart is to see through your eyes. Start ignoring words until the actions give you a reason to consider them. Watch the video in front of you on mute until

you’re sure you like the picture.

Giving Your All to Someone Who Deserves Nothing from You Love is a two way street. Friendship is a two way street. Relationships are a two way street. One-way streets are filled only with users, abusers, and heartless individuals. One of the most common ways of breaking our own heart is by giving our all to someone who deserves nothing. Have you ever… - Treated someone like royalty, yet were treated like trash in return? - Had someone disrespect you yet demand that you respect them? They say one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. That is not true. When an individual considers another “trash,” they don’t recognize real “treasure.” Those people that treat you like trash are those that have a “me, me, me” attitude. There is no love in “Me.” Love is about giving. You might also feel like you’re trash because you’ve been told that for so long. In order for you to be trash, that would imply that God made a mistake. This doesn’t happen. More than likely you feel that way because you’ve given and given for so long and have nothing left to give. Your heart is

exhausted. Everyday you probably drive to work. Your car dutifully takes you to work, and it takes you back. In return for it doing its job, you refuel it when it gets low, and the relationship continues. What happens if you don’t refuel the car? What happens when you don’t give it what it needs? It dies. Relationships work the same way. As long as you keep giving to each other and refueling each other, you will live long and have healthy relationships. Once the circle is broken and someone stops giving, the relationship will unfortunately die. You’ve probably heard the expression, “You can’t beat a dead horse.” Often we get in dead-horse relationships with those that don’t care about our well-being, only theirs. You can give and give all you want, but eventually, you’ll run out of gas. Have you ever had a cup with a hole in the bottom? Do you continue to try and pour water into it just hoping that maybe somehow it will hold water this time? Hopefully not, because you know it won’t. Why is it then that we pour our hearts into relationships and people that are cups with holes? You are doing just that when you have someone’s back that doesn’t have yours, or when you’re breaking your back for someone who wouldn’t even bother to massage yours. You may even be willing to take a bullet for someone that not only wouldn’t take a bullet for you, but they’re probably shooting the bullets at you. They may be doing this via hurtful words, unfaithful actions, and lack of caring. Do you deserve that treatment? No. Corinthians 6:14 says don’t be unequally yoked. Find someone on your level. If you think someone is above you you’re wrong. God made us all

in His image…perfect. If you think someone is below you, you’re wrong again. However, there are those that are equally yoked like you. You wouldn’t put a chef in charge of an army and you probably wouldn’t put an army general in charge of a bakery because that’s not their specialty. They’re not equipped for that task. Don’t do that with the Vehicle of Love in your life. Find a suitable driver. Find one that completes you, not overshadows you or relies solely on you. Whatever you do, don’t give your all in vain, find someone who can’t wait to return the love.

Ignoring Your Heart Finally, the most definite way to break your own heart is...*drumroll, please*... ignoring it. It sounds simple, yet it leads to more heartbreaks than all the others combined. When you get a recipe that you’ve never made before, you follow the instructions, right? When you’re putting together a new appliance or project that you’ve never built, you follow the instructions, don’t you? Why is that? You follow the instructions because the author or person who created it knew what they were doing and wants you to succeed in building it yourself. God created you; He is the author of your life. God says we are people after His own heart, meaning that’s our connection with God. When He paved the map for our lives, He connected our hearts to His so that He can give us instructions. You’ve heard it called intuition, that inner voice, etc.; where do you think that voice comes from? God is speaking to you. God is giving you instructions. He gives them to you because He already has the master plan that most of us try and figure out ourselves. He’s already combined the ingredients known as life experiences and measured out the perfect amount of time to make your life the perfect recipe. But that’s only if you follow it. Pain in your body is your body's way of telling you that something isn’t right. Not only is something not right, but

something needs to be done to heal whatever ailment you have. Your body tells you this because it knows what’s best for you and wants to avoid something worse happening to you. How much more important is your heart? We’re afraid if we listen to our heart that it will tell us to get out of this relationship that we think we can’t live without. We think listening to our hearts will make us vulnerable. You may be right. It may make you vulnerable and it may tell you to get out of a relationship or situation, but you know what? Your heart is incapable of lying. It only knows the truth. If it’s telling you something it’s because it wants to help you. Luke 16:15 says, “…God knows your Heart.” Throughout all scripture, God talks about the heart of a man than any other part of the body. This is because it’s special to Him. This is why He says to guard it with your life, that’s why He searches your heart, and that’s where He establishes His relationship with you. Friends and family give you advice. Most try and give you solid advice, but none of them ever know the full truth. You can’t give accurate advice if you don’t know all the pieces to the puzzle. Too often, friends have motives in their “advice.” Again, you’re heart has one goal, to do what’s in the best interest of you. You may not see it, but your heart sees the big picture. It won’t let you settle. It may remove from a situation, only because it knows there are far greater things in your future. This is why you ultimately hurt yourself 100% of the time when you ignore it. Protect your life by listening to your heart. It's never going to steer you wrong. When your heart is speaking, make sure you're listening because it's trying to tell you something.

The End

ABOUT REHAB TIME (Renewing Every Heart and Body) Rehab Time is the bridge between the secular and the sacred. By erasing the dividing line that separates the two, we are able to bring people from all walks of life together for a common cause which is to uplift positivity, educate, and empower people in their everyday life. Our mission is to become the number one worldwide online institution and community source of positive change. Our vision is to provide a worldwide community that immediately promotes positive change by demonstrating that “change starts with you” from the inside out. We do this by focusing on fitness, integrity, altruism, responsibility, leadership, and spirituality and by creating an environment where one can come to refine his/her self. We at Rehab Time know that through our change, we create the future, and we hold ourselves accountable for demonstrating the change in which we wish to see in our online and physical communities. Best Regards, Baylor Barbee, Trent Shelton, and the Rehab Time Family