A Heart That Is Broken

A couple of days before Thanksgiving, I wrote a post on Facebook that made a few people wonder about me … wonder if I was okay, wonder if something else had happened on top of the already difficult circumstances that the November winds had blown my family’s way earlier that month. The post was a bit out of character for me. It wasn’t peppered with the usual grace that others were accustomed to seeing from me. But a heart that is broken is not always graceful – sometimes the pain speaks louder.

And my post was my pain speaking, and for that, I do not apologize.  

I had actually prayed about it before I posted it. I didn’t want to offend anyone by being too blunt. But I felt like God was asking me to give voice to my pain. I also consulted with my husband prior (as I do with most everything I post), and he was in agreement as well.

So I proceeded with the post. It was raw, and honest, and liberating, paving the way for God to perform a breakthrough in my life. And what’s more, me voicing my pain turned out to serve as a voice for some other people’s pain as well.

And that is what God has called me to do. To minister to the broken-hearted.

So I will continue to share my pain and my heartbreak as God guides. Hopefully more eloquently and gracefully than I did that day in November, but perhaps not always. Because let’s face it, pain isn’t pretty. And how can my pain minister to others if I try to cover it up?

Several years ago I prayed an honest prayer for God to break my heart for what breaks His. I was sincere in that prayer, but I now know I had no idea of what I was asking for back then.

I hope to share more of this story in the future, but for now I’ll just summarize what I have learned. How can you have a heart for what breaks God’s heart if your heart hasn’t been broken?  

In the words of U2, “A heart that is broken, is a heart that is open.”

And my heart has been split wide open. Open to release things that have held me bound, open to receive all that God has for me, and open for God‘s love to flow through me to reach others with their own broken hearts.