Just as with physical numbness, spiritual numbness does not have to be permanent. While the season of cold may leave scars, the heart can be thawed. Feeling can return. Life can be restored. But as with frostbite, healing does not happen instantly. Breaking the ice is a process—slow, intentional, and dependent on care beyond ourselves.
The thaw begins with repentance. We must first recognize what has happened to our hearts and acknowledge the role our choices have played in their frozen condition. Through the prophet Joel, God calls His people back with tenderness rather than condemnation:
“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart… rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love” (Joel 2:12–13).
Repentance is not merely feeling regret—it is turning back. It is the honest surrender of a hardened heart to a merciful God. And we do not return to a God waiting to shame us, but to One who welcomes us with grace, ready to restore what the cold has damaged.
Yet repentance is only the beginning of the thaw. Frozen hearts do not heal by willpower alone. We must ask God to renew what has grown numb. David understood this when he prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Ps. 51:10). He knew only God could restore what sin had hardened.
God Himself promises this renewal through Ezekiel: “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezek. 36:26).
The thaw is God’s work. He does not merely warm the surface—He replaces the hardened heart entirely. And He tells us how He does it: “I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes” (Ezek. 36:27). God revives us from the inside out, restoring sensitivity, obedience, and life.
As God renews the heart, responsiveness returns. We are awakened again to His voice and drawn back into close fellowship with Him. The writer of Hebrews invites us into this restored relationship: “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience” (Heb. 10:22). Where numbness once created distance, renewal brings nearness.
And a renewed heart does not remain barren. It begins to bear fruit. Jesus reminds us, “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing (John 15:5). Paul describes that fruit as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, humility, and forgiveness (Gal. 5:22–24; Col. 3:12–13). These are the natural signs of a heart no longer frozen, but alive in the Spirit.
This new life requires surrender. Paul teaches that we must crucify selfish desires and allow Christ to live through us (Gal. 2:20; 5:24). As we release control and submit to Jesus, the thaw completes its work. What was once cold becomes responsive. What was once numb becomes alive.
God does not desire frozen hearts. Jesus warns against cold, lifeless faith (Rev. 3:15). Paul urges us to be “fervent in spirit, serving the Lord” (Rom. 12:11). God calls us not merely to avoid numbness, but to live with hearts awakened—soft, responsive, and burning with devotion to Him. #BreakTheIce #SpiritualNumbness
Adonai's Appeal 
January’s blogs are so good and I needed to hear every word! Thank you for helping me stay close to my Lord and for reminding me about the gradual but deadly consequences of allowing my love for and service to Jesus to grow cold. Sooooo good!
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