In my final year of high school, I “fell in love with” a girl by the name of Beverly and dated her for several months. Looking back, I’m not too sure I would call it “love” today; probably more like an infatuation, I would say.
Anyways, I recall phoning her after I bought my first car – a 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air, four door sedan, six cylinder motor – and inviting her out for a drive. I should have told her it was a used car (about 10 years old at the time) because of the way her face fell when she took her first look at it! I guess she had been expecting me to drive in with a brand new shiny 1965 Mustang or something like that. (The Mustangs had just come out that year…)
We dated for several months and I did like her. But apparently she didn’t feel quite the same about me. That’s because one evening in the beginning of June, just as final exams for Grade 12 were to start, she told me it was over.
I was devastated. My heart broke into a million pieces and I cried buckets of tears. My normally good grades at school dropped as I lost interest in my studies, thinking only of her.
It was my first experience of having a broken heart and even if it was “puppy love”, it still was very painful.
Through the years, I’ve watched many people suffer broken hearts, most much more serious than mine ever was. I’ve seen husbands absolutely devastated because their wife walked out on them. I’ve seen wives crushed to discover their husbands have been unfaithful to them.
When you’re in the middle of it, you think nothing can be worse than having a broken heart. And as a parent, I’ve watched my kids break up with boyfriends/girlfriends and I’ve hurt along with them.
Our daughter now lives near Killarney and we drive out to see her and her family a few times a year. To get to their place we drive west of Morden and then south of Pilot Mound, and on to Killarney. Along the way, there is a sign by the road. It is just a simple verse from the Bible: “He heals the broken hearted.” (Psalm 147:3) My wife and I have said to each other how nice it is to see the focus of that sign being on of care and compassion of God: that He would heal the broken hearted.
Over the years I have seen God heal many broken hearts. Maybe as you’re reading this, you can think of the time your heart was broken and God healed it and you are happy today.
But perhaps, you have a broken heart right now. Things have gone badly for you and it feels like your hurt will never go away. Go to God in prayer. Tell Him your hurts. Give Him your shattered heart.
Then watch as He takes those pieces and puts them back together. As the songwriter puts it:
“Give them all; give them all to Jesus,
Shattered dreams, wounded lives, broken hearts.
Give them all, give them all to Jesus,
And He will turn your sorrow into joy.”
