Brokenhearted

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted, and he saves those whose spirits have been crushed.” Psalm 34:18

Hurricanes, floods, and fires have filled the news as many people in our country have experienced the devastation and loss of their homes and possessions. Lives have been lost, and nothing will be the same in many communities. When everything we have acquired in life in way of material wealth has been destroyed, life takes on a different perspective. People are at a loss as to what to do now. Everything that was familiar is gone. Their emotions are raw, and they are broken in spirit.

While I personally experienced the loss of my home and possessions because of a fire when I was a teenager, it was a single incident not the mass destruction that our country has witnessed. But I remember the emotions and feelings connected to the loss. Everything you regarded as your own no longer exists. Your identity had been wrapped up in where you live, what you own, and what you regard as valuable. Life is viewed through these material possessions. Your heart is broken, and you have no idea how to live and face life.

It is important to grieve the loss. Emotionally, we fall apart. We experience something that is so foreign to our life, and it is difficult to process that what happened was real. I remember having dreams about the fire for months. Sometimes, I would wake up and think for a moment everything was just a dream, but then the reality would hit me. I felt the same way after the death of my husband, Dave. I would have dreams about him, and I would wake up believing the past months were just a dream, and then reality would hit, and I would fall apart.

Sometimes the only way to begin to heal is to fall apart. To fall apart is to be at our lowest but also the most vulnerable and broken. It is knowing we do not have the ability to fix or heal or put our lives back together. This is a full surrender. “I need help. I have no clue what to do next.” We are brokenhearted and feel abandoned and alone.

We each have events, experiences, and situations that break our hearts. We have no strength on our own. It is in the brokenness of our lives that we begin to assess where we have placed our values and focus. After my house fire, my view of material possessions changed. They are necessary and needed but not the most important part of life. Relationships are central. My relationship with those I love and my relationship with God takes precedence. I began to focus on the blessings not the losses.

This is difficult when our heart is broken and the grief is intense, but healing begins when we change our focus from the loss to the blessings. This does not mean that crying and grief and sadness is wrong because when we have experienced loss and tragedy, we will have these feelings in some way the rest of our lives. Our heart will always remember the brokenness. Healing begins when we focus on the blessing of having our loved one in our lives. It is focusing on what we still have – our own lives and the lives of others we love. It is focusing on what is most important in life. It is knowing that God is with us in the brokenness. God is the only one who walks with us in the brokenness and is the One who brings healing and hope out of the ashes of our lives. I cannot explain why tragedies happen, but they do. We try to make sense of something that makes no sense to us.

All I know is that God is close to the brokenhearted. That means God is close to you and me. God saves and rescues our crushed spirits. God wants to carry the burdens of our lives and give us hope when life seems so hopeless. It is accepting that this tragedy and brokenness has happened, how do I take steps into the life I now have? It is knowing God walks with us each step. It is not easy to start over, but God was with us before, and God will be with us now. You can live even when your heart is broken. You live in the healing.

Pray for those whose lives have been torn apart from all the tragedies. Pray for those around you whose hearts are broken from loss and change. Pray for yourself and allow God to bring healing and hope.

********************************************************

My Books are available through different venues

• Tea Story in Upper Sandusky

• Personally through me

• Amazon

Living In The Different

Live Different Moments

Life Lessons of a Lone Trooper