When Our Hearts Break

When Our Hearts Break

Day 18

How do you describe heartbreak? How can you visualize it?

Your heart feels tight with emotion, that innate thing we only feel and yet can never really lay our hands on. It expands to the point you feel as if it’s physically ripping in two. It beats harder not faster. (There’s a difference.) Each thump of the muscle moves an enormous amount of blood, you can hear each swish, swish, swish as the fluid pumps through your head. Your breath is labored, leaving you with an urge of panic. What if I can’t catch my breath? After a moment you take in a half breath, realizing it’s not enough to live on. Your body longs for more oxygen. Your chest feels as though it will tear straight down the middle. Right at the height of hysteria, you gasp, swallow, and allow your body to relax.

That’s how the writer would describe heartbreak – that lonely place where emptiness dwells and peace is void. Intense, deep, and hopeless. Practically every person alive has remarked about a broken heart. We’ve used the term over and over again without great thought until we’re suddenly blindsided by something that causes us great pain.

In the midst of our deepest heartbreak God allows us rescue. Psalm 34:18 tells us, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Isn’t it a wonderful and peaceful thing to know? In the middle of our turmoil, God is there to save our crushed spirits. He mends us gingerly with His needle and thread. He gently pulls the pieces together and reattaches them. Each connection offers us a fraction of rest.

Through the brokenness He heals us completely, and from the reality of the situation we glean experience that will serve us or someone else at just the right time. Learning to grasp hold and rejoice in the heartache is the hardest thing we could possibly do. Looking to Christ and asking Him to take the burden away and use the vessel in which it was housed is frightening. However, there is great relief within that step of faith. There is hope.

When your heart breaks turn the pieces over to Christ and allow Him to work His miracles.

Prayer: When I have suffered such pain, please Lord, use me. Use me to your glory.