This past week I had coffee with a friend.
She told me some horrifying news....news that made me go home and lock my bedroom door and cry deep. The kind that breaks your heart and makes you want live your life in such a way that you change lives---so that the heart shattering things of life will stop destroying people.
And then I remembered.
I remembered years ago when my own heart was broken. Shattered into a million tiny jagged pieces. Not unlike slivers of shattered glass....everywhere.
How I cried out to the Lord---Lord, how could you do this to me? How could this pain be so bad?
It honestly felt like I lived in the valley of death. Life stopped and I didn't know how to move on. I clung tight to His word. I remember needing to get away. I escaped to the library and held tight to my Bible. I had a highlighter and marked anything that was a glimmer of hope in the Scriptures and of promise in that old faithful book. Tears pouring over the pages. Tears that were refining me and the Word that was purifying me.
With Satan over my shoulder breathing lies.
I held on to His Word for dear life.
And this is what I prayed for my dear friend over coffee.
Friends, do you know that even though your heart is broken and you feel that it can never be mended that the Lord is the Lord of Miracles?
He makes ALL things new. Your marriage, your home, your relationships.
You must leave and trust everything into His Hands. You are safe with Him. He is Your refuge.
Trust when you cannot see in the darkness. Grasp tightly onto His hand and let Him lead you through that dark valley--and don't ever think of letting go.
He will lead you out.
My heart now has since been healed. The million shattered pieces that I thought was beyond repair was now replaced, made new, and stronger than ever. It was a supernatural healing. The kind that only comes from Him. The Lord that Heals---Jehovah Rapha.
Don't be afraid.
Cling tight.
He loves you.
He will never leave you or forsake you.
There is nothing He can't heal.
He makes all things new.
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38 comments:
How I needed to read this, dear friend. Thank you.
I so needed to read this today. I have recently had my heart shattered...though even that seems to put it lightly.
Thank you.
Becky
What beautiful encouragement for my heart today. Thank you!
I walked through this kind of valley only 2 short years ago. And just as you said, I clung to every promise I could find. All I can say is that he has given "beauty for ashes." There is no way to explain His goodness to me, or His peace in the storm.
I walked through this kind of valley only 2 short years ago. And just as you said, I clung to every promise I could find. All I can say is that he has given "beauty for ashes." There is no way to explain His goodness to me, or His peace in the storm.
Beautifully put. Thank you!
This is so helpful and comforting to those in need. Thank you x
I need this today too. I hope I will get to the place of clinging to the Lord soon. Right now I'm just withdrawing
So thankful for this today June as my husband looks to be on the edge of losing his job due to malicious lies from jealous coworkers after he valiantly saved a woman's life! Thank you for this reminder! R.
A FB friend posted a link to this. I look forward to reading more of your blog.
I walked through this valley 2 years ago (actually 2 years to the day is when are dark night started). I clung to the Lord. I clung to hope.
Two years later . . . our darkest days keep getting darker. I have nearly lost hope. I truly can't find a sliver of hope to hold onto. I cannot see any light at the end of our tunnel.
Still awaiting Him to make all things new . . . our marriage, our home, our relationships.
Please pray for us.
Laurel
mama of 12
I'm struggling with postpartum depression. My beautiful baby girl is only 3 months old and she has felt mommys tears running over her for weeks now. I hold her and tell her how much I love her to try make these feelings go away. I am a sexual abuse survivor. My own dad did some pretty horrible things to me. Everything , the feelings, the memories, are coming back and interfering with my relationship with my husband. Sometimes it feels like I am loosing my mind but I know the LORD is with me and that he will get me through this
I can attest to the Truth of this too. He truly does take all those fragmented pieces of our soul and re-build and re-work them into something different and beautiful. Although at the time it is THE worst thing ever. Clinging to Him and crying out to Him is our only hope.
Praises be to our Lord Jesus Christ, our Healer, our Creator!!!
A heart shattered is so very hard to deal with but with God and only with God, am I able to get through it.
Thank you so much for these encouraging words.
i prayed for you dear sister
i prayed for you dear sister, God will heal you, restore your marriage....
Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them.
Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.
They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.--Psalm 84:5-7
Making your valley of tears a spring...beauty from ashes...only GOD.
Thank you for this. God knew I needed this today and He brought this post in my path. You worded it so perfectly, my heart is not just shattered into a million pieces; they are painful, jagged pieces. Though the waiting has been so very long, I am waiting for the Lord of miracles to come through for me and make all things new.
The Bondage Breaker by Neil T. Anderson is so helpful in getting past these hurts and being free from the memories and pain.
I too went through this kind of heartache several years ago. Sadly I did not do as June did. I did not cling to His word and allow Him to heal me. Instead I became angry. I blamed our church. I blamed family. I blamed my husband and my faith became shipwrecked for a few years. Finally, in the miry pit of despair when I could not go any deeper the Lord sent one of His children to draw me out. She helped me to recognize the lies that satan was whispering in my ear were keeping me in bondage.
Thank you for sharing the admonition to cling to Him. We are renewed by the washing of His word and He does appoint to them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that we might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified. (Isaiah 61:3)
A friend just lost her husband last night, he was 40. He was a nurse on a medic flight. She has 4 children. She has been fighting her own fight for 2 years, with her health, after not healing from a routine procedure. She homeschools her children, loves the Lord, and is an inspiration to many! My heart breaks for her, she is facing my greatest fear (losing my husband or one of my children). My brother in law is her pastor and I pray for him (and his family) as they minister to their dear friends. My heart hurts, but I cling to the promise of seeing Jim reunited with his dear wife and children some day! My God is good, all the time, my God is good!
I am forever endeared to you because of this post. You have worded what is in my heart, and encouraged me that there will be better days. Thank you - God bless you richly.
Thank you, thank you, for this sweet post of healing and hope.
Thank you very much...may God bless you.
I just prayed for you. I know what it's like to have postpardum depression. The Lord will heal you.
I am so thankful I stumbled upon this tonight. my heart was torn apart when we found out my son survived a severe brain injury in utero he is 9 months old now and our future is so uncertain. I am glad to know I am not the only one scrapping around looking for any sign of hope. I have just started to feel the very beginning of healing for my heart. I hope to be brave enough to have more children someday, and I know my heart has to heal first. Thank you.
I am so glad I stumbled upon this tonight. My heart was torn apart when we found out my son survived a severe brain injury in utero. before he was born God told me to get my hopes up about this baby... I am still waiting on Him. I am starting to feel the very beginnings of healing in the heart. I long so much to have more children but I know God will have to touch my heart first. Thank you
Wow, I just came across this post, and am so blessed by the stories of how God has and is in the process of healing broken hearts. Mine has been shattered to pieces, and through God's help, I have been enabled to stay my ground and not run or hide from the pain, to not get bitter or believe the lies of Satan. I have stayed and had my heart shattered again, yet by the grace of God I have held fast, only to have it shattered again and again, assailed by storms from every side. I have held--or should I say, have been held--fast so tightly to this Rock, that I feel that I could not move if I tried. What blessed trials that have secured me fast to the Rock of my salvation! May I never refuse suffering, for it is through suffering that I am His and He is mine!
Thank you. I can definitely relate, as, it seems, so many others can, too. I do believe I'm on the healing-stage. How precious Christ Jesus & His word was & is for that healing!
Praying for your joy and respite from this valley. Philippians 4 Much love to you
Usually I regret reading comments but these stories of God's faithfulness and requests for prayer have blessed me as much as the original post. I think we all have this collection of "bad stuff that could happen" somewhere in the back of our minds... Things we think we could not endure. One of these things happened in my life 2 1/2 years ago, and although the results will affect me and my family for decades, I want to give God the glory that he is faithful to hold onto me through the worst days and that his strength in me had enabled forgiveness of others and trust in him that mystifies the world.
Isaiah 54....Read it. Believe it. Meditate it. Its the best HEART medicine.
I know these feeling are very real! I had a very low time over several years of dealing with depression. I made some major changes in my diet and realized just how much it drastically reduced my depression. I too felt like I was losing my mind and praise the Lord today for much healing. I eliminated all refined sugars to begin with, and then cut out ALL grains of any kind. Yes, even the whole grain breads, granola, etc. even if it sounded like a healthy food. I added a superfood supplement from Dr. Shulze. In a few weeks I felt like I had come out of a long dark tunnel that I had been in for years. Since then I have started taking Plexus supplements that are balancing my blood sugar and healing my gut. I am so amazed at how the Lord has used these measures to bring me into the sunshine. If we read the instructions in the Bible about how the Lord intended for our food supply to be protected, and then see how man has destroyed our food supply through disobedience to our loving Fathers instruction and his own greed, we can start to see how this battle of depression is natural and spiritual. And so VERY REAL!! Hugs and prayers for you.
Poppa God placed this in my news feed today...thank You Lord for this piece of HOPE in a LONG journey. Never give up, never let go...I got it. FAITH of a mustard seed...Healing in His grace.
My heart is completely shattered.But it's not only my heart,my parents' as well. My daughter has decided she is gay. I can hardly type the words. Totally unexpected and out-of-character for her. I cannot stand to see the hurt in my Dad's eyes, to watch him cry. Not because of what other people think, but because of what God thinks. How? How do we make it through this? What are we supposed to do? Everyone says "be strong and supportive for her", how?! That we should accept this, how?!
I felt like this when my husband of 22 years abandoned me for an adultress and I never saw it coming. I was SHATTERED. But indeed God has rebuilt my life.
My heart is breaking now. I am leaning on God everyday. But the hurt is still there. How can family hurt family so very, very badly.
Laurel, i hope things are better
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