When The Heart Breaks

It is no secret that I am terribly directionally challenged. I can get lost so fast that I could probably hold the world record for it! Or if ‘getting lost’ was added as an Olympic sport I could win the gold medal hands down. At times I have been so incredibly lost (yes multiple times) that I didn’t even know where I was. But no matter how lost I have gotten, I have still known where to turn for help.

Just as I get physically lost, there have also been times in life that I have been figuratively lost. Times when circumstances have taken place wounding my heart, threatening my dreams, and distracting my focus. But no matter what has happened in life just as I know where to turn when physically lost, I know where to turn when figuratively lost.

In John 11, Lazarus died and for his sister Mary, his death was heartbreaking. He was her brother and without him, she was figuratively lost. He was her provider, protector, friend and even counselor. When Jesus came to town he asked for her and she quickly ran to meet him. And in John 11:32 the bible says that when Mary saw Jesus she fell at his feet.
When physically lost I turn to a map, I call a friend or I do the unthinkable…I turn on my GPS. But when figuratively lost, I turn to Jesus and like Mary, I fall at his feet. Jesus didn’t scold Mary or tell her not to cry but instead he had compassion on her, he comforted her, even cried with her. For when he was in front of Lazarus’s tomb the bible says, Jesus wept.

It is so important that when heartbreak comes we turn to the right source for help. When our hearts our wounded we can be easily distracted or try to mend our hearts ourselves. Jesus however is the only one that can mend our hearts and bring restoration to our lives. Jesus came to heal the broken hearted (Luke 4:18) and waits with open arms to hold us when heartbreak comes. I am so thankful that I can fall at the feet of Jesus and let him fix my heart, my dreams and restore my focus.

J.C Macaulay once said ‘Keep your heart right, even when it is sorely wounded.’ Every single person will experience the pain of heartbreak. The defining difference is how you respond, and move forward in growth, when the heart breaks. In life there are many things that come at us, wound our hearts, threaten our dreams, and distract our focus. We can’t prevent heartbreak or hard times but what we can control is our response to it.