It has been said that there is a distance of eighteen inches between the head and the heart—a separation of a foot and a half.
When I look back, I realize I was oftentimes just eighteen inches from victory. Only eighteen inches of steep terrain needed to be conquered. The distance of eighteen inches may seem short, but the road is extremely long and winding. Yet this distance can definitely be shortened and the road made much less turbulent when we make a vital connection.
In 1991 Dr. J. Andrew Armour introduced the idea that the heart has its own brain. In his book Neurocardiology Armour revealed that the heart “has an elaborate circuitry that allows it to act independently of the cranial brain—to learn, remember, even sense and feel.”1
Ah!
This extremely important information would confirm what I had felt all these years—and prove that I wasn’t a weirdo! I also realized that if this was, in fact, true, then number one, the Bible would confirm it (because science will ultimately prove what God has written in His Word). Number two, I wouldn’t be the only one sensing this deep divide on the inside.
According to the research, the brain in the head is connected to the brain in the heart.
The two brains send messages to each other through thousands of neurons and tiny filaments, but the messages don’t necessarily coincide.2
To us laymen this may seem to be just some boring medical information that has nothing to do with us or our spiritual life. But I assure you it has everything to do with us. This affects every facet of our lives, especially our spiritual life.
Think about the reality behind this truth.
Don’t we oftentimes say things like, “My mind is telling me one thing, but my heart is saying something else”?
This is why many times we can hear a sermon, walk out of church believing that we can scale a wall, truly know that God’s Word is yea and amen, and yet a week later find that the excitement behind that life-changing truth has fizzled out. It’s as though the revelation thief stole the faith we had to live out the truth we received.
I believe we are just 18 inches from victory.
Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding” (nkjv, emphasis added). It doesn’t say, “Trust in the Lord with all your head”! The Bible clearly differentiates between the head and the heart. Psalm 26:2 says, “Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my mind and my heart” (nkjv, emphasis added).
Although the battle in our minds is very real, I don’t think we can ignore this other battlefront that must be won in the heart. The war raging in the mind is only half the battle. The heart’s brain must be healed from all the years of disappointment and rejection.
Question: Do you need God to heal your broken heart—or shall I say the broken way your heart thinks?
Copyright © 2015 by Maria Durso, All Rights Reserved. Purchase a copy of my new book, From Your Head to Your Heart, on Amazon here.
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