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Chautona Havig

Chautona Havig

Using story to connect YOU to the Master Storyteller

So, Why Guide Your Mind & Guard Your Heart?

by Chautona Havig · 7 Comments

The first wince came. Because I have a gift (or curse—depending on your perspective. Just call me Monk) for being able to see both sides of an issue, I decided to assume it meant what wasn’t actually stated. Because, as we all know, Christianese sometimes uses phrases that are metaphoric.

You know, like “breaking bread” together… when everyone’s on a gluten-free diet and there’s nothing bread-like at the meal at all!

The second time it was more of a punch to the gut. I wanted so much to like this book, and the initial good impression was beginning a slow, downward spiral. The third… nothing too horrible, but I found myself zipping a message to a friend. Line by line, I shared my concerns.

But I kept reading.

reading

What was the book? Guide Your Mind, Guard Your Heart, Grace Your Tongue.

The concept for the book really was wonderful. I wanted to love it. And page by page, little things hinted that I wasn’t going to.

Can I just say now that I’m glad I kept reading?

So, Why Guide Your Mind & Guard Your Heart?

Note: links may be affiliate links that provide me with a small commission at no extra expense for you.

So, Why Guide Your Mind & Guard Your Heart?

Because like this book reminds us, those are things Scripture commands of us. The Lord has told us again and again how we are to have a clean mind. While reading this book, it occurred to me that maybe that’s so that we’re able to love the Lord God with all of our “minds.”

Guarding our hearts. If the heart of man is wicked and deceitful above all else, and then Jesus washes all that away… why wouldn’t we guard it from the filth that we so easily allow back inside if we’re not vigilant? It’s just common sense!

Gracing our tongues? Well, let’s face it. I didn’t memorize James in the 9th grade for nothing. You kind of can’t read James chapter 3 without knowing what God thinks about not being grace-filled with our tongues.

So, with a rocky start like that, why did I like the book so much? Oh, I didn’t tell you that I did? Well, I did. For a short while there, I told that friend of mine that if nothing else, I’d rip out a few really amazing pages and toss the rest of the book. Fortunately, I don’t have to do that.

Well, here are a few tidbits that I got from it.

Ms. McLeod tells the story of a friend of hers who gets “historical” about a perceived slight that supposedly happened AGES ago. Apparently, it gets dredged up on a semi-regular basis, and despite apologies and assurances of love and value for the woman, she keeps rehashing the attack. Now the lesson was on mindsets and how they affect how we see things.

But I couldn’t get the image of God in heaven out of my head. I imagined Him up there and me dragging up all the things I’ve messed up over the years. How I keep bringing them up again, and He’s still gracious and kind despite having forgiven me for those things LONG ago.

If we’re going to speak truth to ourselves about everything, then… well… I need to speak truth to myself about the fact that between us and God, once I’ve been forgiven, I’ve been forgiven!

If I mess up with a friend, and that friend forgives me, she’s going to get sick to death if every time I talk to her, I beg forgiveness. AGAIN. Why wouldn’t I show the same courtesy to the Lord. Be grateful, yes. But seriously…

guide your mind

It wasn’t what Ms. McLeod meant to teach me, I don’t think, but she did. Thanks!

But one of my favorite parts was so great that I’m just going to quote it here:

“It must be absolute truth alone for you to spend any time at all thinking about it. If you don’t know that something is fundamentally true, then throw it in the trash! If you can’t verify and justify a certain piece of mental information, then do not spend another millisecond letting it rest in the recesses of your brain. If a thought is not true, then it does not pass the litmus test of belonging in your brain.”

Problems I had with Guide Your Mind?

Were there any? Yep. But I’ll be honest. There aren’t as many as I expected after the first few. I kept expecting it to get “worse,” and it never did.

What were the problems? Well, here you go. These were a few things that really alarmed me:

First, she wrote as if she expects God to speak to us, outside His Word, and we are to speak those words to others. The way it is described sounds very much like extra-Biblical revelation.

However, later reading on that did make me think that she meant God speaking the Word to us. Then, later on, an anecdote she used about God speaking to her mother could not be her using “God speaking to you” as “Remembering what God said through His Word about this type of situation.”

Regardless of which she means most of the time, you have to be careful “who” you’re listening to when you start expecting to “hear from God.” If it’s not in the Word… watch it!

Additionally…

Her section on how with the Holy Spirit, we can think like God does, understand “just as Jesus does,” and have “divine creativity,” is what nearly made me put the book down. They may have been written with different ideas in mind, but I couldn’t help but feel like I was hearing Satan in the garden assuring us that we can “be like God” et cetera. I understand the reasoning behind why she would say that, but I couldn’t swallow it.

And finally, her use of miraculous is rather loose to me.

The rest, however? Surprisingly and delightfully excellent. While I wouldn’t give this book to a new or immature Christian without some warnings (above), this is one of the best books I’ve seen on these topics. Most of what she has to say is sound, and I will be going over the above in the Word, with the Scriptures she shared, and I’ll be comparing it all to context, the Greek, and what I’ve previously understood to be truth to be certain that I am not wrong! Because I never want to pretend that I’ve cornered the market of Biblical understanding!

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Comments

  1. Rosalyn says

    April 19, 2018 at 5:41 pm

    I really appreciated your review! As I was reading this book, I had some of the same thoughts but didn’t quite know how to express them.
    I’ve learned that I can take so much good away from a book, things that will really help me in my walk with Jesus, if I just remember to compare everything with what the Bible says!
    And yes, this book was written for me!

    Reply
    • Chautona Havig says

      April 19, 2018 at 5:56 pm

      It’s definitely chock full of good stuff. And I guarantee, if I wrote the book, it would have things that people went, “Um… just where is THAT in Scripture.” Because just because I think I know something is Biblical doesn’t mean I’m right.

      Reply
  2. flocat says

    April 19, 2018 at 1:53 pm

    I had similar thoughts and concerns as you, but I felt the book was also written for me. 🙂

    Reply
    • Chautona Havig says

      April 19, 2018 at 2:19 pm

      Aside from those three things, I really thought it was a phenomenal book that pointed you to the WORD. That’s huge.

      Reply
  3. Joanna says

    April 19, 2018 at 8:44 am

    These are very good points. I’m glad you wrote this review. I would be concerned about the same areas you mentioned.

    Reply
    • Chautona Havig says

      April 19, 2018 at 2:20 pm

      I’m glad I “had” to read it or I might have given up on a good book in “fear” that it might be loaded with problems. It wasn’t, and I’m glad of that.

      Reply
  4. Lucinda says

    April 19, 2018 at 5:23 am

    Food for thought…

    Reply

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The Because Fiction Podcast

The Because Fiction Podcast
The Because Fiction Podcast

Taking the pulse of Christian fiction

Episode 215: A Chat with Henry O. Arnold
byChautona Havig

I had a chat with actor and author Henry O. Arnold a while back, and boy did we have a lot of fun. His Song of Prophets and Kings series features the advent of Israel’s kings from Samuel’s birth through David hiding from Saul (so far) and onward. Listen in as we chat about his most recent release, The Singer of Israel.

 

note: links may be affiliate links that provide me with a small commission at no extra expense to you.

What Made David Such a Man after God’s Heart?

I think this series will show us. I love that Henry O. Arnold started back at Samuel’s story to prepare us for the story of arguably the most influential king of Israel. Yes, Solomon was the wisest and richest, but David offered something that Solomon didn’t have. He was an average guy—a shepherd, no less—chosen by God to lead his country.

In a sense, it’s kind of the ancient Jewish version of a poor, everyday guy growing up to become President of the United States. If you know what I mean.

This five-book series is available as an eBook, in print, and as an audiobook, too! Henry read a snippet of it to us, and boy you get a feel for his love of Scripture and God’s people as he reads.

And if that wasn’t enough, he even gave us a hint of his upcoming Christian suspense/thriller “series. He says he has two books planned for sure, so… at least a duology, but maybe we can talk him into a trilogy at least? Get those odd numbers and everything?

The Singer of Israel by Henry O. Arnold

A singer’s voice inspires a troubled nation…A shepherd’s courage vanquishes a giant

The last official act of the prophet of Yahweh was to secretly anoint a replacement for the king of Israel who has been brought low by an unbalanced mind. The great prophet of Israel lives in fear of the wrath of the king. Then out of the hills of Bethlehem emerges the last-born son of a family of shepherds to become the unforeseen hero of Israel.

When David sings of the glory of Yahweh, this shepherd wins the hearts of the royal family and restores King Saul’s troubled mind. But when the singer/shepherd defeats the champion of the Philistines in single combat, David becomes forever known as “the giant slayer.” Saul quickly sees that David is now a threat to his kingdom and secretly plots to have him killed.

David may be the champion of the people of Israel, but he must live under the constant threat of Saul’s wrath until he is finally forced to flee for his life.

The Singer of Israel is a tale of triumph and tribulation, deepest love, and burning rivalries; the new epoch is given a voice…and it is The Song of Prophets and Kings.

You can learn more about Henry on this WEBSITE.

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Episode 215: A Chat with Henry O. Arnold
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