Blog
How's Your Heart
Tuesday, January 9, 2024 by Sarah Schwerin
Our group stood in the shade outside Yad Vashem, The World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, Israel. I adjusted my ear piece to hear the tour guide, then put on my sunglasses to hide the tears running down my cheeks.
We walked into the museum, and sadness continued to wash over me. I couldn’t control my anguish. The first exhibit was a movie, a living landscape, portraying Jews living in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s. Our tour guide explained that many of these people would be murdered. Over six million Jewish lives lost. In another exhibit there are piles of books and shoes from the victims of the holocaust. I hung my head and continued to weep. I didn’t want anyone to see how hard I was crying.
We followed our tour guide through the busy museum, listening to her narrate. The sadness and grief weighed me down. We saw the evidence that antisemitism began as a campaign long before the holocaust. The holocaust was a concentrated effort to wipe out God’s chosen people. How could someone orchestrate and implement such an evil plan?
As we wove our way through the exhibits and other tourists, an image caught my eye. On the wall were pictures of Nazi soldiers. One was a young soldier who looked a little older than my high school aged son. The 8 X 10 frame swung out, and behind it was a letter he wrote to his mother. Part of the letter said (paraphrased): To be bothered by killing someone is weakness of heart, but it gets easier the more you do it.
He’s saying that to kill someone and feel bad about it means you have a weak heart. In order to kill someone, you must harden your heart. How did the holocaust happen? Like this young man, people hardened their hearts.
It’s easy to hide our tears, to hide our guilty feelings, and to harden our hearts. But God desires that we give him our hardened hearts in exchange for a heart like his.
“Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep my judgements and do them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God,” (Ezekiel 11:19-20, NKJV).
In the crowded museum, I felt God saying: Don’t let your heart grow hard. It’s okay if you’re weeping uncontrollably because that’s how I made your heart.
I pray that none of our hearts will ever be so hardened that the sight of death and destruction doesn’t make us weep and mourn.
*Photo courtesy of https://pixabay.com/
Previous Posts
Too Many Hurricanes: Why Me?
Sarah Schwerin
11/12/2024
I Want My Mom
Sarah Schwerin
10/8/2024
Scraped Knees
Sarah Schwerin
9/10/2024
A Curly Haired Girl
Sarah Schwerin
8/13/2024
For the Birds
Sarah Schwerin
7/9/2024
Too Much Adulting
Sarah Schwerin
6/11/2024
Ziplining The Canyon
Sarah Schwerin
5/14/2024
Book Review: Healing the Wounded Heart
Sarah Schwerin
4/9/2024
Unable to Relax?
Sarah Schwerin
3/12/2024
Who Am I?
Sarah Schwerin
2/13/2024
How's Your Heart
Sarah Schwerin
1/9/2024
The Frozen Ground of Christmas
Sarah Schwerin
12/19/2023
Book Review: Forgiving What You Can't Forget by Lysa TerKeurst
Sarah Schwerin
7/27/2023
What's Your Favorite Book?
Sarah Schwerin
7/13/2023
Overcoming Recurrent Hurts
Sarah Schwerin
6/22/2023
Book Review: #My Family Too! By Marlene Bagnull
Sarah Schwerin
5/25/2023
Second Breakfast
Sarah Schwerin
5/11/2023
Book Review: Hush by Nicole Braddock Bramley
Sarah Schwerin
4/27/2023
Unexpected and Unwanted
Sarah Schwerrin
4/13/2023
Books Review: We Too By Mary DeMuth
Sarah Schwerin
3/24/2023
An Envelope of Kindness
Sarah Schwerin
3/9/2023
Book Review: Healing For Damaged Emotions by David A. Seamands
Sarah Schwerin
2/23/2023
Misdirected Prayers
Sarah Schwerin
2/9/2023
Book Review: The Courage to Heal By: Ellen Bass and Laura Davis
Sarah Schwerin
1/26/2023
My Refuge: Where I Flee When Life is Hard
Sarah Schwerin
1/12/2023
Book Review - True North By: Dave Smith
Sarah Schwerin
12/29/2022
Oatmeal For Dinner
Sarah Schwerin
12/15/2022
Book Review of Rescuing Rose
Sarah Schwerin
11/28/2022
When Houses Fall
Sarah Schwerin
11/16/2022
An Invitation
Sarah Schwerin
9/21/2022
Planner Addict: What Happens When Plans Fail
Sarah Schwerin
9/16/2022
Fast Drivers and Two Brothers: When Life Isn't Fair
Sarah Schwerin
8/16/2022
Talking Birds
Sarah Schwerin
7/15/2022
Looking for a Leader: Reflections from the Gettysburg Battlefield
Sarah Schwerin
6/24/2022
Nap Hater: My Quest to Find Rest
Sarah Schwerin
5/3/2022
Dreams of Kenya
Sarah Schwerin
4/26/2022
Snow Days and Hearts that Lead Us Astray
Sarah Schwerin
4/13/2022
Can I Hide From God?
Sarah Schwerin
3/29/2022
Stitches and Waiting on God
Sarah Schwerin
3/25/2022
God’s Voice Or The Enemy’s?
By Sarah
3/3/2022
The Battles We Fight
By Sarah
3/3/2022
Drowning In Fear
By Sarah
3/2/2022
A Boring Bible Story, A Temple, And My Mom: A Devotion On Heaven
By Sarah
3/1/2022
Marriage Advice
By Sarah
2/28/2022
Does Idolatry Exist In Today’s World
By Sarah
2/27/2022
Underwear Blues
By Sarah
2/27/2022
A Voice In Chengdu
By Sarah
2/26/2022
Word Of The Year
By Sarah
2/25/2022
A New Year Challenge
By Sarah
2/24/2022
A Christmas Of Firsts And Lasts
By Sarah
2/23/2022
Christmas And The Suffering Servant: Hope For Abuse Survivors
By Sarah
2/22/2022
The Day I Stopped Watching Horror Movies
By Sarah - Life Lessons
2/21/2022
Waiting Arms
By Sarah
2/20/2022
I Messed Up, Again
By Sarah
2/19/2022
My Tribe: Autism Moms Are The Best
By Sarah
2/18/2022
When Words Wound
By Sarah
2/16/2022
Craving Acceptance
By Sarah
2/15/2022
When Innocent People Suffer
By Sarah
2/14/2022
Rubbish
By Sarah
2/12/2022
The Voices In My Head
By Sarah
2/11/2022
Buffets
By Sarah
2/10/2022
The Process Not The Product
By Sarah
2/9/2022
Hidden Snacks, Ice Cream, And Fairness
By Sarah
2/8/2022
Rootless
By Sarah
2/7/2022
You Never See The Potato Masher Coming
By Sarah
2/5/2022
Forgiveness
By Sarah
2/4/2022
The Unnamed Victim
By Sarah
2/1/2022
Engraved
By Sarah
1/31/2022
Left Handed Hero
By Sarah
1/30/2022
Quarantine Time
By Sarah
1/26/2022
