"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." - Romans 8:18
True believers realize and hope for the time when we will be in heaven with the Lord and "...God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." Revelation 21:4
Just contemplating on that verse makes you feel good and gives you hope and patience to endure various trials here on earth right now. But what if the emotional or physical pain seems impossible to overcome ? Or to endure? What if the hurt and the reason for the hurt keeps playing over and over in your mind......even years after it first occurred? "Time heals all wounds". so the saying goes, right? Or, as some would say, "Time will tell" when we cannot comprehend the outcome of a situation.
When I was in my senior year in high school, I wrote an essay titled "Time Heals No Wounds". It was rather negative in content as I was going through (and had previously gone through) some very difficult and heartbreaking times at that young age. My English teacher liked the essay, however, and insisted that I read it in front of the class, to my horror, as I was extremely shy about things like that. I did as she asked, and kept that essay for several years and then it got lost in moving to another state.
My relationship with the Lord has grown and He has "renewed my mind" (Romans 12:2 and Ephesians 4:23) in these latter years of my life. However, time may not heal all wounds, but it can make the memory of past hurts dull with time, if you will let it and not be bitter and resentful and nurse the hurt for years and not let go of it. Forgiveness is the key. Actually, the good Lord is the key!
"Leave the broken, irreversible past in God's hands, and step out into the invincible future with God."
- Oswald Chambers.
"God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever." - Vance Havner
So if you are broken, God can still use you. You can use your experience to help others in their afflictions; to share your faith of how, if God can help you, He can help them as well. God can heal our broken hearts. Psalm 147:3 says, "He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds." It is God's great and merciful love that heals us. If you focus on God and Jesus and pray about your situation, you are taking positive action towards leaving the brokenheartedness behind you.
"Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 3:13-14
Following is a song for the broken hearted. Just pretend it is God speaking in the verses.
We must also remember that sometimes God uses heartbreak and afflictions to shape and mold us and teach us some lessons.....the number one lesson is that we turn to Him in prayer and in total surrender to Him and to His will. Hardships and trials and heartache will cause us to look to God for help and guidance. God is our Healer, the Master Physician. If we handle suffering God's way, we bear witness to the Lord more so than we could have otherwise. Remember the apostle Paul's thorn in the flesh : "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me." - 2 Corinthians 12:9 Whatever Paul's thorn in the flesh was, God still powerfully used Paul.
"Afflictions, though they seem severe, in mercy oft are sent." - Unknown
A few months ago, I painted a landscape scene from one of my reference photos, which is shown below:
This is the reference photograph I took of Wind River in Dubois, Wyoming. I titled the finished painting "Brokenness Amid Beauty." The brokenness of course refers to the broken log in the foreground. Our life can still be beautiful, despite some brokenness in it from time to time. Keep a close relationship with God and Jesus and you then can always see the sunshine poking through the dark clouds.
"A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken." - Proverbs 15:13
"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose." - Romans 8:28
