“Keep putting into practice all you learned, received, or
heard from Me." ~ Philippians 4:9
Janelle woke up sad, grave,
lonely. She’d gone from dancing and
singing with dozens of Mayan kids daily to staring aimlessly in her bedroom
mirror; from living with a dozen missionaries to living alone.
No longer waking to the views of Lake Atitlan or the
volcanoes in Antigua, Janelle no longer had ministry days scheduled for
her. She won’t worship with people who
listened to her heart or walk the dusty roads shouting "Hola" to passersby.
Her life has radically changed after two years of mission
work in a Guatemalan, mountain village. For
weeks, she’d dwelled on what was no longer; the season had ended.
When she listened in prayer
today, Jesus spoke, offering a new light to the darkness she’d been hiding
in. “God is the same here as He was
in Guatemala. His love doesn't change,
it conquers. Your love shouldn’t change
just because you’re not in that season anymore.
I broke your heart, Janelle, for what breaks mine.”
God answers prayers with perfect
timing. She was in a season of
heartbreak, because God wanted to reveal His reckless love. Her heart was breaking for those she’d left
behind in Guatemala. She didn't know
that her heart would hurt so bad until she realized how God's heart hurt so
much more for us small, messy humans.
There’s so much that breaks God’s heart: when couples
divorce; when parents are ill, when little children are homeless or abused by
adults. His heart breaks if bosses
mistreat their employees, when a college student has no friends, and when
someone visits a church service and no one notices them. His heart breaks when we love the all wrong
stuff.
Every time we choose the world
over Him, His heart breaks. He treasures
being able to comfort us when we are hurting, heal us when we’re broken, and
love us when we feel unlovable.
God was breaking Janelle’s heart
to make His grace more evident. He was
enlisting her to love like Him - without borders, without hesitation, with all
of her. God was using her grieving to
reveal so much more - to continue running to Him, so He can use her.
So yes, He knows exactly what
our hearts need, and sometimes, that is a few cracks and crevices - cracks so
that His light shines more brightly through.
Almighty Father, You know exactly what our
hearts need. So, break my heart for what
breaks Yours. I want to breathe more of
Your air, pour out more of Your love, continue serving as You perfect me. Amen
