Why Heart of Incense?

Why I Named My Coaching Ministry Heart of Incense

By Renee Sauter

There’s a story behind every name, and Heart of Incense is no exception. In my case—it’s a testimony. An illustration from God in a season when I was trying to make sense of the “why” behind the hard season I was coming out of.

The Vision That Changed Everything

It began during a prayer session I did in 2023 with Encounter Ministries. I was emotionally raw, but spiritually feeling like I was on a major growth journey with Jesus. In that session, the Lord showed me an image: a tree with sap pouring out of it. It was so real, like I was literally standing in a forest before a tree that was so close I could touch it and feel it. I didn’t understand it. It felt random, maybe even irrelevant, and I felt a little ridiculous describing it out loud to the woman leading my session. But to my surprise, she paused and said, “I know there’s spiritual significance to that image—I just can’t recall what it is.”

A couple of days later, she sent me a video of Fr. Boniface Hicks explaining the symbolism of sap. And suddenly, everything clicked. Here is a link to that video as Fr. Hicks explains more beautifully than I could ever hope to: The Hidden Meaning of Incense w/ Fr. Boniface Hicks

Sap is the lifeblood of a tree. It flows from deep within, often hidden, and when it pours out—especially when the tree is wounded—it becomes incense. In ancient times, tree resin was burned as a fragrant offering to God. What looked like pain was actually worship. What felt like loss was actually sacred.

That image was God’s way of telling me: Your suffering is not wasted. It’s being transformed into something holy. One of my main reasons for becoming Catholic (I will share the full stoy another day) was because it was only in Catholocism that I found a satisfactory answer to the purpose of suffering; that I could become more unified with Christ by actively participating in and lifting my suffering up as a living sacrifice for others. As St. Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me..." a testament to the fact that we are called to die to self and let our suffering be redemptive, just like Christ, and let Him join us to Himself.

So Why Heart of Incense?

Because that’s what I embraced. A heart cracked open by pain, pouring out something fragrant like a tree bleeding sap. Not perfect. Not polished. But real.

Heart of Incense is my offering. It’s a space for women who are walking through their own deserts—who feel lost, angry, or numb—and need someone to remind them that God is still near. That He is the great Gardener who sees your sap spilling out in your anguish. That suffering can be sacred. That healing is possible. That beauty is not the absence of pain, but the presence of grace.

If you’re in a season of suffering, I want you to know: you are not alone. Your pain is not meaningless. And your heart, even now, can become a beautiful catalyst for lifting satisfying incense up to the Lord.

"Let my prayer be set before you as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice." -Psalm 141:2

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