Broken Hearts

Broken Hearts

Hurting Women

The woman sat at her kitchen table, staring out at the gray November day and feeling numb. She’d hoped that the move to a small town would mean a fresh start for herself and her children after the divorce. But just when she thought her son seemed to be adjusting, he’d been arrested for selling drugs. When her daughter hadn’t come home two nights ago, she found a note in her room. The tenth grader had dropped out of school and moved in with an older man. The mother’s eyes fell on the bare branches of the maple trees, broken and twisted from the previous year’s ice storm. She thought, That’s exactly how I feel.

The Bible includes many stories of women whose hearts were broken. Tamar was raped by her half brother. After moving to a strange country, Naomi lost her husband and both sons (see Ruth 1:1-15). The mother in Matthew 15 watched her daughter being severely tormented by a demon day after day. Job’s wife lost all ten of her children and all of her possessions in one day.

Living in a world warped by sin can break our hearts. Sometimes we’re hurt by our own mistakes, and sometimes by the choices of people close to us. Many women carry deep wounds from abuse or hurtful words in their childhoods. When the hurt seems too much to bear, we may respond by shutting down emotionally. That numbness in our spirits makes us wonder if our hearts will ever be whole again.

God wants to heal our broken hearts, if we’ll let him. It may be difficult to face what seems unbearable, but we must be totally honest with him. Trying to hide our pain is unhealthy physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Even when it seems impossible, God can mend the broken pieces of our lives and our hearts.

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.

Psalm 34:18