We have all had our heart broken. If you are the one human that has never experienced the stinging pain of a broken heart, you may need to check your pulse!
From peeking to see what Santa had hidden for me in 3rd grade, to being humiliated as I lost everything I owned, trying to save everything I thought I had built, I know the earth-shattering pang of love, loss, leadership, and life. And I’ll bet you do as well!
Now that we have established that we are human, let’s take a look at what to do when the old ticker is laying in fractured pieces on the kitchen floor.
First: Congratulate yourself! You still have a heart while living in a world that seemingly has lost theirs. Well done!
Second: Grab hold of a couple of truths that are constant. 1) Whatever has broken your heart is just a season. Don’t let your feelings disturb that truth. You have lived through other heartaches and you’ll live through the ones you cannot imagine yet. 2) If the Divine has allowed you to experience this heartache, He is most certainly not done with you. He will use this season for your good and for His glory. Now is not the time to be short-sighted.
Third: I might lose a few of you here, but recognize that every single heartache leaves you with a new knowledge of what you want your future to be. It is an opportunity to bust out of your cocoon and fly a bit. If you listened to last Sunday’s sermon, you know that the only reason that a butterfly can fly out of the caterpillar’s cocoon is because of the pain and work that has happened inside. Without the work on the inside, there is no beauty on the outside! Get your head up, set your new course and crush it! You can do this! Pay the emotional tax of moving forward and blaze a new trail!
Fourth: While I fully understand that this is the heartbreak of your life, it is also when you are best prepared to allow God to speak into and work you into what He longs for you to be. When we are left with nowhere else to go, He is just getting started. Let Him do what only He can do in your life!
Listen, friend, I get it. Life can truly drain you of hope, but you are, as the old hymn says, “just passing through.” Accept it, learn from it, be strengthened because of it and run after God. He is the only source of healing that can truly turn your world right side up! And He can’t wait to do that for you!
—AChuck
