The other day, my colleague randomly showed me a picture of a man who’d just had his heart replaced. To celebrate the success of the operation, he took a picture while holding his original heart in his hand.

For the sake of those who are more sensitive to such pictures, I’ll just describe what I saw – the old heart looked so much like a giant stone. If you don’t believe me, you can always Google it.

I immediately thought of this verse from Ezekiel: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26)

This verse holds so much meaning for me because I’d had a falling out with Church and God a few years back. This isn’t the story on that, but this was the verse that set me back on the path and had me discovering my faith once again. I too underwent my own kind of heart transplant with God.

I remember God explaining then, as He gave me that verse, that like in any heart transplant, my body would take time to get used to the new heart. There was a risk of rejection from the body, the old flesh. This is what it says online:

“You will spend about 1 to 2 weeks in the hospital after surgery. You may have to stay longer depending on your health and if you have complications from surgery. While in the hospital, you will start a cardiac rehabilitation programme. And your doctors will check on your heart to make sure your body isn’t rejecting it.”

If a normal person who has had a heart transplant requires a “cardiac rehabilitation programme”, what more for our spiritual heart transplant.

Fortunately, our God is an all perfect God. He is the divine physician and He will not let your heart fail. Even when I’m barely surviving in the valley and getting confused and upset with treatment I do not understand yet, God finds a way in with His truth.

I don’t know what tomorrow holds, if my old self will attempt to reject my new heart again, where it will hurt this time. But I’m going to let His healing truth sink in. Tonight, I rest in His faithfulness and not my futile strength.

This is a submission from a participant of our Christmas Gift Exchange. From now till the end of December 2017, we are giving away a limited edition Thir.st Tumbler in exchange for every story on the Christmas themes of love, joy, peace, hope and giving. Click here to find out more.