Dear Sister in Christ,

We’ve been reading in Mark and focusing on God’s plans and purposes, but today we’re going to look at the question, Does God care about my broken heart?

Read Mark 1:29-34

When we’ve been focusing on God’s plan and purposes, you may be asking:

But does God care about:

• The heartache I’ve experienced?
• The abuse I suffered?
• The mistakes I’ve made?
• How other people have messed up my life?

We see in this passage of Mark that Jesus was told about Peter’s Mother in law.

What did He do?

And when the crowds came to Him, what did he do?

Dear friend, I don’t know the pain you’ve been through, but I do know from experience that our God is a God of restoration and hope. Having come from a background of severe trauma and abuse, I don’t believe that was God’s will for me, and the answer to the question, does God care, as we see even in this little passage, is a resounding yes!

Jesus responded to those who came to Him.

And when you bring your broken heart to Jesus, He also responds to you.

What God Does in our Heart

Going back to the metaphor of us being clay, and God being the Potter, let’s look at what a Potter does.

 I took a pottery class once, and the teacher took a metal string to cut several blocks of clay from a huge block.

He handed a small block to each of his students.

We couldn’t mold that clay right away because it was hard. We had to knead it, working with it until it was soft enough to handle. This kneading removes air pockets and impurities. If these are not removed, the clay will explode while it’s in the kiln.

Sometimes the things we’ve suffered leave our hearts wounded, broken, vulnerable. We want to protect ourselves from being hurt again, and we put up walls around our heart, and it hardens.

But when we bring our hearts to God, just like that clay, the Lord softens the clay our hearts, kneading out impurities.

In my own life, He had to knead out hatred, bitterness, unforgiveness and more.

Even though it was painful at times, I am so glad He did.

I no longer live with the bitterness, hatred and anger that accompanied me almost every day.

I am free.

Spending Time in His Presence

When you spend time in God’s presence, surrendering your heartache, pain and the things you’ve suffered, He goes to work in your heart.

He knows your situation. He knows the things you’ve been through and what you’ve suffered. And Dear Sister, when you give Him that brokenness, He is a master at taking our broken pieces and making them into something beautiful.

Invite God in

Would you like to invite your Heavenly Father in to do a Healing work in you?

If you’ve suffered from severe trauma and abuse, like I did, it would be good for you to have someone pray with you. Choose a mature Christian who you can trust and who you know will stand with you in prayer. This can be a friend, pastor, or Christian counselor.

First, acknowledge your pain.

Tell God how you feel.  Write it out or just tell Him in prayer.

Hold out your hands in front of you. Imagine holding up that heartache, that loss of a loved one, the abuse you suffered, mistakes you made, or how other people messed up your life. It may even be a mixture of things.

As you lift it up to Him, pray the following prayer.

Father God, I surrender to you what I wanted. I give you the pain, heartache, and loss I’ve experienced. I surrender to you the mistakes I’ve made and ask forgiveness for them now. I choose to forgive those who have had a negative impact on my life.

Now, turn your hands over and shake them out, as if you are putting those things into God’s hands.

And Pray:

I give these to you, Lord, they are your burden and not mine. I ask for Your healing. I am the clay, and You are the Potter. Cleanse any bitterness, hatred, or anger from my heart. Help me to know that you are the God of restoration, and to trust in Your process of healing. In Jesus’ name, amen. 

Until next time,

Carolyn