Broken Heart

Today, I picked my girls up from school and my little one entered our vehicle holding a treasure she found on her short walk from the school to the van.  She held her hands out proudly and presented me with a dried leaf that was a burnt dark color from the sun on one half and the other half formed a red heart signifying the change it was experiencing before the leaf fell to the ground.  As I looked closer at the treasure I noticed it's brokenness; a tear across the left side of the heart.  I assume that occurred from the impact of the fall from it's maker.

And I was reminded of my own fall from my Maker which resulted in my heart being broken.

One of the most difficult things to face in our walk of faith is that Heavenly Father allows us to be broken.  In those times when our lives are falling apart and we've lost the strength to carry on, we struggle to make sense of our suffering.  Heavenly Father, in all His wisdom, knows that, just like wheat, we cannot be used until we have been sifted.  He breaks every part of our lives that keeps us from Him. But, it's in the process where we can lose sight of what God is doing, and our faith may fail if we are not fully aware of His true nature and His omnipotent ways.

Heavenly Father breaks us or allows us to be broken because He loves us.  If we can stop looking at our troubles as punishment and start seeing them as opportunities to encounter God, we would find greater peace in the trials of life.  Our brokenness sheds light on our pride; when we are broken and only pieces of us remain, Heavenly Father is able to show us more of His power through our total dependence on Him.  Without our desperation we would never know our need for a Savior and Redeemer and we would never seek Him for a miracle.  His love wants to draw us nearer to Him.

I know this to be true because my heart was broken, even shattered.  Yet, Heavenly Father loved me enough to send His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ to earth to suffer and die for me.  Jesus Christ lovingly volunteered to experience every pain and sorrow that I have experienced and ever will experience so He would know first hand in the flesh what He needed to redeem me from.  I have been given a new heart, whole and complete, sealed with His love.  

If you have found yourself in a broken place, know that Heavenly Father is aware of you and your struggles. He has a plan and a blessing behind it all.  It's your brokenness that will make you more whole than you ever perceived you could be.