Day 37 "Broken Hearts"

Have you ever had a broken heart? If you are living and breathing, I suspect you have. As I sit here preparing for my upcoming mentoring session on Monday, aka "Breaking Free with a Friend," I am working through week five of my Breaking Free workbook.

This week has been all about discovering the ways our hearts are broken. I admit that my soul found this to be very invasive. How is it that words can strike so emphatically? It is amazing to me how when we truly open our minds to God - He responds by blessing us with His presence. While present, He dives into our soul and works to heal the broken pieces. Amazing.

This week allows me to embrace the fact that God is not intimated by the depth of my need. Even though at times I can be self-destructive, He still wants to invade all of my empty places to help me to become a woman who is complete in Him. Beth offered a fresh reminder that salvation does not equal our satisfaction. Crazy right? It kind of seems like those should go hand and hand right? Well having been a believer for 21 years now, I can say she is right - salvation doesn't equal satisfaction. The good news is, satisfaction is possible. I like how Beth puts it:

Finding Satisfaction in God involves:

1. Learning to identify and acknowledge every empty place.
2. Asking for any helpful insight from God concerning these empty places (Ps 139:1-6).
3. Recounting the toil these empty places have had on you (Rom 6:21-23).
4. Confessing any sin resulting from these empty places (Jer 2:13).
5. Learning to dialogue openly with God about the empty places (John 4:39-41)
6. Daily seeking the filling of His Spirit (Ps. 63:1-5).

Empty places are basically the parts of our hearts that seem incomplete, broken, or unsatisfied. This brokenness can occur in us in various ways: not getting something you actually need in life; losing something or some you have loved; or it could just be a deep felt need that God put in you that only He can fill (He does that so we are drawn to Him so that He can meet that need). We all have needs don't we? The lessons this week revealed in me some wounds that have yet to be fully healed.

By acknowledging the hurt, God allowed me to see some empty places that have yet to be filled with His living water. He gave me insight to the fact that residual pain and hurt are often the cause of my insecurity and other destructive choices. He allowed me to confess my sins associated with that felt hurt and heard me as I openly dialogued with Him about how I truly felt about some of the things that have happened to me in my life.

I have felt God's healing hands in my life before. I thought forgiveness is what released me from these past hurts. But you know, forgiveness is not the key. It is essential yes - but finding satisfaction in God and accepting His healing is the key to moving forward a more complete version of me. God doesn't intend me to walk around together on the outside, broken on the inside. He desires me to be complete. He desires me to love, laugh, and to live life freely.

I hope this encourages you today. Do you want to be satisfied? It is possible. A relationship with God changes your life forever. Trust me, I wouldn't live another way. Through every doubt, insecurity and short fall - God always proves to be the one in control. I am so thankful for this.