When your heart is broken, the pain is more than figurative. The damage to your soul can make you feel like a different person, one incapable of experiencing love, joy, and peace.
You try to put your heart back together, but every disappointment and stressful situation shatters it again. So you protect the pieces by hiding them behind a mask which automatically smiles and says “I’m fine.”
Put the mask down, and search your heart for the piece that knows God loves you—truly, wholly, unrelentingly loves you. It’s the part of you that remembers every good thing he’s done in your life—every blessing, every healing, and every grace.
Hold on to it until his love for you brings you to a place of genuine peace, where you can think, feel, and talk to Jesus without fear. When you’re ready, give that piece of your heart to him. In his hands it becomes whole, a new heart strengthened in joy, softened in peace, and empowered to receive and give love.
As he places the heart in you, there’s a familiar stab of pain. You remember what broke it, and there’s a moment you fear it will happen again. But immediately there’s a grace far greater than the fear. Rather than breaking, your new heart embraces the pain in that grace, and becomes stronger than ever.
“Teach me your ways, Lord, so I can walk in your truth again. Unite the pieces of my heart, and restore me to live in awe of you. O Lord my God, I want to praise and honor you with a truly whole heart” (Psalm 86:11-12, paraphrase).
Equip Your Spirit 