Stop Building Fences Around Your Heart
“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” - Proverbs 4:23
People build emotional fences for all kinds of reasons. Something hurt them. Someone disappointed them. A moment caught them off guard, and the safest response seemed to be closing the gate and keeping everyone at a distance. At first, the fence feels like protection. It gives you a sense of control. It helps you avoid the fear of being hurt again. Over time, though, what once felt safe starts to feel confining.
Every fence you build closes you off a little more. A quiet distance forms between you and the people who truly care. Conversations lose depth. Trust becomes harder. Joy feels muted. Before long, you begin to realize that the barrier meant to keep pain out has also kept love, support, and connection from getting in. God never designed your heart to live locked behind walls.
Healing does not come from isolation. Growth does not happen in hiding places. God brings people into your life to encourage you, strengthen you, and remind you that you are not meant to carry everything alone. When the heart becomes fenced in, those gifts struggle to reach you. Eventually, the loneliness becomes louder than the original wound that caused you to close up.
Opening your heart again takes courage. It requires honesty about what hurt you and humility to admit that the fence is no longer serving you. When you take small steps toward vulnerability, something begins to shift. Grace moves into spaces that fear once occupied. Peace grows where tension used to sit. Connection starts to feel possible again.
You are not being asked to trust recklessly or ignore wisdom. You are being invited to let God soften the parts of you that became rigid from past pain. One conversation at a time, one prayer at a time, one step at a time, the walls begin to lower.
If you notice a fence forming inside you, pause and bring that to God. Ask Him for the strength to open the gate. Your heart was created for connection, and God has placed people in your life to walk with you, not watch from the other side of a wall.
People build emotional fences for all kinds of reasons. Something hurt them. Someone disappointed them. A moment caught them off guard, and the safest response seemed to be closing the gate and keeping everyone at a distance. At first, the fence feels like protection. It gives you a sense of control. It helps you avoid the fear of being hurt again. Over time, though, what once felt safe starts to feel confining.
Every fence you build closes you off a little more. A quiet distance forms between you and the people who truly care. Conversations lose depth. Trust becomes harder. Joy feels muted. Before long, you begin to realize that the barrier meant to keep pain out has also kept love, support, and connection from getting in. God never designed your heart to live locked behind walls.
Healing does not come from isolation. Growth does not happen in hiding places. God brings people into your life to encourage you, strengthen you, and remind you that you are not meant to carry everything alone. When the heart becomes fenced in, those gifts struggle to reach you. Eventually, the loneliness becomes louder than the original wound that caused you to close up.
Opening your heart again takes courage. It requires honesty about what hurt you and humility to admit that the fence is no longer serving you. When you take small steps toward vulnerability, something begins to shift. Grace moves into spaces that fear once occupied. Peace grows where tension used to sit. Connection starts to feel possible again.
You are not being asked to trust recklessly or ignore wisdom. You are being invited to let God soften the parts of you that became rigid from past pain. One conversation at a time, one prayer at a time, one step at a time, the walls begin to lower.
If you notice a fence forming inside you, pause and bring that to God. Ask Him for the strength to open the gate. Your heart was created for connection, and God has placed people in your life to walk with you, not watch from the other side of a wall.
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