{"id":259,"date":"2012-04-11T13:40:57","date_gmt":"2012-04-11T13:40:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lamarhuntjrcounseling.com\/blog\/?p=259"},"modified":"2012-09-06T17:09:32","modified_gmt":"2012-09-06T17:09:32","slug":"a-new-beginning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lamarhuntjrcounseling.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/11\/a-new-beginning\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Beginning"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Today (Monday, April 9th)\u00a0is the day after Easter Sunday and thus it is the first day of creation for all Christians (and really even those who\u00a0are indifferent or struggle with belief). We need to ask ourselves whether we have let\u00a0things &#8220;soil our hearts.&#8221; The\u00a0prophet Ezekiel (36:26)\u00a0notes, &#8220;I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you a natural heart.&#8221; Even though we have just\u00a0passed through a\u00a0time of spiritual renewal within\u00a0the Church season typically referred to as Lent, we\u00a0need to examine our hearts and be aware if we have become too preoccupied with ourselves, filled with concerns and complications. We need to beg God for a new heart because if we give a little, God will give a lot! Matthew 6:21 states, &#8220;For where your treasure is, there also will\u00a0your heart be.&#8221; So we ask for a new heart by imploring, &#8220;A clean heart create for me, God; renew in me a steadfast spirit.&#8221; Psalm 51:12. Things that typically soil our hearts include resentment, anger, lust, comfort seeking, sluggishness, a critical spirit, and arrogance. This coming Sunday, April 15th\u00a0is Divine Mercy Sunday\u00a0and this time of year continues to be\u00a0a &#8220;re-examination&#8221; of what\u00a0holds us back\u00a0from\u00a0possessing\u00a0that &#8220;clean heart.&#8221; Divine Mercy\u00a0Sunday is\u00a0a day for even the most hardened of hearts.\u00a0The grace of God&#8217;s mercy is for all people and since we are all sinners and\u00a0bear personal responsibility for our faults and failures, what\u00a0better time to return to Church and ask for God&#8217;s unending gift of mercy and forgiveness. Christ\u2019s first words in the gospel\u00a0of Mark (1:15)\u00a0are simply, &#8220;This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.&#8221; If you or someone you know may need counseling, please contact Lamar Hunt Jr. or see his website at <a href=\"http:\/\/lamarhuntjrcounseling.com\/\">http:\/\/lamarhuntjrcounseling.com\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today (Monday, April 9th)\u00a0is the day after Easter Sunday and thus it is the first day of creation for all Christians (and really even those who\u00a0are indifferent or struggle with belief). We need to ask ourselves whether we have let\u00a0things &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/lamarhuntjrcounseling.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/11\/a-new-beginning\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,30],"tags":[19,18,20,75,10,11,14,17,40,41,28,9,6,7,8,38,39,12,13,37,27,49,50,29,36,26,69,70,42],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lamarhuntjrcounseling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lamarhuntjrcounseling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lamarhuntjrcounseling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lamarhuntjrcounseling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lamarhuntjrcounseling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lamarhuntjrcounseling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":355,"href":"https:\/\/lamarhuntjrcounseling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259\/revisions\/355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lamarhuntjrcounseling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lamarhuntjrcounseling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lamarhuntjrcounseling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}