Outshining The Darkness

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

—Psalm 34:18

Sometimes, our lives and our hearts are broken open. Brokenness has a way of allowing the supernatural into our lives in the same way that deep joy or great beauty do—and maybe, I’m finding, even more.

Let me be clear: brokenness doesn’t automatically bring us to the thin place, the sacred place where God’s breath and touch are closer than our own skin. Heartbreak brings us lots of places—to despair, to bitterness, to emptiness, to numbness, to isolation. But because God is just that good, if we allow the people who love us to walk with us right through the brokenness, it can also lead to a deep sense of God’s presence. When things fall apart, the broken places allow all sorts of things to enter, and one of them is the presence of God.

My prayer is that what you’ve lost, and what I’ve lost this year, will fade a little bit in the beauty of the Christmas season, that for a few moments at least, what is right and good and worth believing will outshine all the darkness, within us and around us.