When Your Heart is Broken, Healing is Available
Last month, which was February, is commonly known as the month of love. This four-letter word is often promoted by society as this warm and fuzzy feeling, however, that so-called feeling is only a small portion of the true definition of love. Most individuals typically enjoy talking about the joyous moments that love brings, yet many people don’t prefer to address the hardships and hurt that also comes connected with love.
What happens when your love is broken and shattered into mere pieces of what used to be delightful? How do you love when your perspective of love has been distorted by hurt? How do you not allow your heart to become hardened or bitter after it’s been wounded?
What Causes a Broken Heart to Occur?
Broken hearts occur for various reasons. We all love and/or loved something. If we admit it, most of us have suffered some form of heartbreak. Rather it transpired from the death of a loved one, divorce, infidelity, a wayward child, or ended friendships, we have suffered some type of hurt in our hearts.
Some of us have also found ourselves looking for love, which has left behind wounds as a result of offering our hearts. Due to our wounds, we have created an ideology of what love is not.
Furthermore, many of us fallen victim to believing that love is solely attached or associated with an individual, however, love is not always sought out in people. Sometimes we try to fulfill that longing for love through materialistic things including corporate success, fashion, academics, etc. While these things may temporarily appear to fill a void in our lives, it will resurface again.
After a broken heart, it can be challenging to begin to fathom how you will overcome your brokenness. Let me be the first to acknowledge that healing from pain is not easy, but there is hope that things will get better with God and time. Rather your love for materialistic things left you still feeling empty and alone, or your love for a person who abused your trust left you shattered, you can overcome hurt.
3 Ways to Overcome Hurt
Listed below, are three ways that may help you combat the hurt in your heart:
1. Allow Yourself to Grieve
Dealing with wounds of a broken heart is never easy. It seems easier to shove down the hurt and bypass dealing with your emotions. While it may appear to be a safer option at the moment, in reality, it’s one of the most damaging things you can do.
Why? Shunning hurt will only allow you to avoid the hurt temporarily. Undealt with hurt in our lives will resurface and lead to other issues later. It’s imperative to give yourself permission to grieve. Grieving looks different for people, but you have to allow the grieving process to occur in order to allow healing to take place.
2. Be Vulnerable
We’re human and we like to be portrayed as strong. This usually leads to creating a false image of who we truly are inside. Vulnerability requires us to be honest with who we are and how we’re doing without putting up a false image.
God wants us to come to Him completely vulnerable and without walls so that He can share our burdens. You see, God is such a gentleman and he won’t force Himself on anyone. Welcome Him into your wounds and let Him begin to heal your heart. The Bible says in Psalms 147:3 in the New International Version, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”
3. Extend Forgiveness
Forgiveness can be a difficult act to do when your heart is wounded by someone you love or forgiving yourself for loving materialistic things more than God. If you’re not careful and aware of your emotional state and do not allow God to help you overcome your hurts, you will begin to hold onto those wounds and not extend forgiveness.
The Bible says in Psalm 34:18 in the New International Version, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
When your heart is broken, you’re unable to love the way God intended you to love. Instead, you will try to love through the eyes of your brokenness rather than God’s tenderness. It’s in the brokenness that we must welcome God into our wounds.
Today, choose to allow God to reveal the brokenness in your life. He’s ready to heal your broken heart.