{"id":16390,"date":"2017-01-20T00:01:48","date_gmt":"2017-01-20T05:01:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/?p=16390"},"modified":"2017-01-19T19:09:21","modified_gmt":"2017-01-20T00:09:21","slug":"when-a-cold-heart-melts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/when-a-cold-heart-melts\/","title":{"rendered":"Broken Into Life: When a Cold Heart Melts"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Nan Jones @NanJonesAuthor<\/a><\/p>\n

Broken. Defeated. A shell of a man.<\/p>\n

That’s all that’s left of the man I loved for thirty-one years, partnered with in ministry … raised a family.<\/p>\n

That’s all that’s left.<\/p>\n

A shell.<\/p>\n

After two and a half years of separation, he is back in my home — badly broken, homeless and suicidal.<\/p>\n

\"Photo
Photo Credit: coombesy\/pixabay.com<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He showed up on my doorstep in early October — no car, no phone, no job, no home, no family. He had walked\/hitchhiked for two days to make his way back up our beloved mountain. An emergency family meeting decided he could stay in an extra room upstairs until he was stable enough to live on his own.<\/p>\n

And thus began the melting of a cold heart.<\/p>\n

Mine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unresolved anger surfaced. Deep wounds of betrayal bled crimson all over my shattered self. I pushed back resentment. Battled bitterness. I stared out the window. A lot.<\/p>\n

And the melting continued.<\/p>\n

Not toward reconciliation, but toward righteousness. Toward Christlikeness who suffered and died that others might live.<\/p>\n

[bctt tweet=”And the melting continued toward #righteousness. @NanJonesAuthor” username=”inspireafire”]<\/p>\n

The homeless man fell two weeks ago, breaking his ankle in two places, requiring surgery and metal plates and screws.<\/p>\n

Requiring more of the reluctant me.<\/p>\n

\"Photo
Photo credit: Unsplash\/pixabay.com<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lord, I can’t do this! I can’t take care of this man who has thrown our love away. I don’t know him anymore. I don’t love him the way a wife loves her husband. I don’t. I can’t.<\/em><\/p>\n

The cold, hard heart stood in defiance before the throne of God. Stubborn. Stiff-necked.<\/p>\n

But then the Lord touched me, gently wiping my tears and spoke to my deepest place, Nan, when you’ve done it unto the least of these, you’ve done it unto Me.<\/em><\/p>\n

A torrent of teardrops released — liquid pain — a melting heart warmed by God’s presence.<\/p>\n

[bctt tweet=”A torrent of teardrops released, liquid pain, a melting heart warmed by God’s presence. @NanJonesAuthor #Transformation” username=”inspireafire”]<\/p>\n

So, is this how it happens — this transforming from glory to glory into the likeness of Christ? Does the warming of a cold, hardened heart come from dying to self and living for Jesus? Loving the least of these so that we honor and care for Him<\/em>?<\/p>\n

It would seem so.<\/p>\n

Because the cold heart must melt in order to survive and the melting must be at the hand of a loving God who desires happiness and wholeness for His child.<\/p>\n

Healing comes in the giving. Warmth of heart comes in the melting.<\/p>\n

And melting comes in dying to self so that others might live.<\/p>\n

SELAH<\/em><\/p>\n

[bctt tweet=”When a Cold Heart Melts @NanJonesAuthor #GodIsGood” username=”inspireafire”]<\/p>\n

Photo credit for featured image: tsukiko-kiyomidzu\/pixabay.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Nan Jones @NanJonesAuthor Broken. Defeated. A shell of a man. That’s all that’s left of the man I loved for thirty-one years, partnered with in ministry … raised a family. That’s all that’s left.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":16391,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1551,587],"tags":[2792,2788,2790,710,67,2578,2791,2789,2793,2794],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nBroken Into Life: When a Cold Heart Melts - Inspire A Fire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Broken. Defeated. A shell of a man. That's all that's left of the man I loved for thirty-one years, partnered with in ministry ... raised a family.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/when-a-cold-heart-melts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Broken Into Life: When a Cold Heart Melts - Inspire A Fire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Broken. Defeated. A shell of a man. That's all that's left of the man I loved for thirty-one years, partnered with in ministry ... raised a family.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/when-a-cold-heart-melts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Inspire A Fire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-20T05:01:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-01-20T00:09:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/sorrow.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"681\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nan Jones\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nan Jones\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/when-a-cold-heart-melts\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/when-a-cold-heart-melts\/\",\"name\":\"Broken Into Life: When a Cold Heart Melts - Inspire A Fire\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/when-a-cold-heart-melts\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/when-a-cold-heart-melts\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/sorrow.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-20T05:01:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-20T00:09:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c9d59c39ac926cb2d730ec4d2e9cedec\"},\"description\":\"Broken. Defeated. A shell of a man. That's all that's left of the man I loved for thirty-one years, partnered with in ministry ... raised a family.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/when-a-cold-heart-melts\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/when-a-cold-heart-melts\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/when-a-cold-heart-melts\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/sorrow.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/sorrow.jpg\",\"width\":960,\"height\":681,\"caption\":\"The melting of a cold heart.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/when-a-cold-heart-melts\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Broken Into Life: When a Cold Heart Melts\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/\",\"name\":\"Inspire A Fire\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c9d59c39ac926cb2d730ec4d2e9cedec\",\"name\":\"Nan Jones\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9b0629d3e7d8b012d0a23945aeb4b9e8?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9b0629d3e7d8b012d0a23945aeb4b9e8?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Nan Jones\"},\"description\":\"Nan Jones is an author\/speaker who uses the words of her heart to assist fellow Christians in discovering the Presence of God in their darkest hour. She has been published in several anthologies as well as the online inspirational sites Christian Devotions, and Inspire a Fire where she is a monthly contributor. She is also a monthly contributor to PW Connections, a blog and forum to encourage pastors' wives. Nan has had the honor of being featured as a guest blogger on several sites. She is thrilled to announce her debut book, The Perils of a Pastor's Wife released June 30, 2015 by Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas. This memoir was a 2016 Selah finalist. When Nan isn't writing, she enjoys leading prayer retreats, bible studies or sharing God\u2019s love as keynote speaker for special events. She is becoming known by her brand: \\\"Even so, I walk in the Presence of the Lord\\\" as she teaches her audience to go beyond the veil to find God's Presence. You may visit Nan at her website: www.NanJones.com. Nan has also created a facebook community page, Seeing Beyond The Veil, to provide a place for folks to go and get away from the chaos for a few moments and focus on Jesus through scripture, worship, testimony, and inspirational quotes. For personal communication you may email Nan at nan@nanjones.com The Perils of a Pastor's Wife is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and LPC Bookstore\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/author\/nanjones\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Broken Into Life: When a Cold Heart Melts - Inspire A Fire","description":"Broken. Defeated. A shell of a man. That's all that's left of the man I loved for thirty-one years, partnered with in ministry ... raised a family.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/when-a-cold-heart-melts\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Broken Into Life: When a Cold Heart Melts - Inspire A Fire","og_description":"Broken. Defeated. A shell of a man. That's all that's left of the man I loved for thirty-one years, partnered with in ministry ... raised a family.","og_url":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/when-a-cold-heart-melts\/","og_site_name":"Inspire A Fire","article_published_time":"2017-01-20T05:01:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-01-20T00:09:21+00:00","og_image":[{"width":960,"height":681,"url":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/sorrow.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Nan Jones","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nan Jones","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/when-a-cold-heart-melts\/","url":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/when-a-cold-heart-melts\/","name":"Broken Into Life: When a Cold Heart Melts - Inspire A Fire","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/when-a-cold-heart-melts\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/when-a-cold-heart-melts\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/sorrow.jpg","datePublished":"2017-01-20T05:01:48+00:00","dateModified":"2017-01-20T00:09:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c9d59c39ac926cb2d730ec4d2e9cedec"},"description":"Broken. Defeated. A shell of a man. That's all that's left of the man I loved for thirty-one years, partnered with in ministry ... raised a family.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/when-a-cold-heart-melts\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/when-a-cold-heart-melts\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/when-a-cold-heart-melts\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/sorrow.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/sorrow.jpg","width":960,"height":681,"caption":"The melting of a cold heart."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/when-a-cold-heart-melts\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Broken Into Life: When a Cold Heart Melts"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/","name":"Inspire A Fire","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c9d59c39ac926cb2d730ec4d2e9cedec","name":"Nan Jones","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9b0629d3e7d8b012d0a23945aeb4b9e8?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9b0629d3e7d8b012d0a23945aeb4b9e8?s=96&r=g","caption":"Nan Jones"},"description":"Nan Jones is an author\/speaker who uses the words of her heart to assist fellow Christians in discovering the Presence of God in their darkest hour. She has been published in several anthologies as well as the online inspirational sites Christian Devotions, and Inspire a Fire where she is a monthly contributor. She is also a monthly contributor to PW Connections, a blog and forum to encourage pastors' wives. Nan has had the honor of being featured as a guest blogger on several sites. She is thrilled to announce her debut book, The Perils of a Pastor's Wife released June 30, 2015 by Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas. This memoir was a 2016 Selah finalist. When Nan isn't writing, she enjoys leading prayer retreats, bible studies or sharing God\u2019s love as keynote speaker for special events. She is becoming known by her brand: \"Even so, I walk in the Presence of the Lord\" as she teaches her audience to go beyond the veil to find God's Presence. You may visit Nan at her website: www.NanJones.com. Nan has also created a facebook community page, Seeing Beyond The Veil, to provide a place for folks to go and get away from the chaos for a few moments and focus on Jesus through scripture, worship, testimony, and inspirational quotes. For personal communication you may email Nan at nan@nanjones.com The Perils of a Pastor's Wife is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and LPC Bookstore","url":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/author\/nanjones\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/sorrow.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4qMHY-4gm","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16390"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/60"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16390"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16405,"href":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16390\/revisions\/16405"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}