If your heart is broken, you’ll find God right there;
if you’re kicked in the gut, he’ll help you catch your breath. Psalm 34:18
Tonight I was with a friend waiting at the hospital to hear about her husband when the doctor came out and said, “I’m so sorry, we did everything we could.” It was like one of those medical tv shows. My friend looked at me and said through the tears, “what am I supposed to do now, who should I call, what should I do?” Her mind was racing, so we prayed together for the peace only Jesus can give would come over her and help calm her mind and heart.
The Chaplain came and took us to a room to be alone, she made a few phone calls to family. Then she said, “I feel like my heart is broken and I’ve been kicked in the gut.” I told her, it is, and you have been. No matter how much we try to prepare for a time like this, it’s never easy. The emotional and mental upheaval cause all sorts of responses, anger, disbelief, sorrow, pain of every kind, regret, loss, loneliness, etc. Every emotion we can possibly feel all comes flooding to the surface. It’s a time of great confusion and contradiction.
But look what the Psalmist says, God is right where you are, and wants to help you breath in rhythm again. You can tell the writer has experienced the anguish of a broken heart, and the gut wrenching grief that comes through loss of any kind. I wish there would have been something more I could say to take away her pain and make everything good again. But I’ve been here way too many times to know just to sit with someone, hold their hand, and pray for Psalm 34:18 tp become real to them. That the One who knows all aspects of grief would come and meet with them right there where they are and bring a sense of peace and comfort that no human can.
I don’t know what you may be going through today, but I want you to know that no matter what is causing your broken heart and that punch in your gut feeling, there is One who wants to meet you where you are. The truth is, he’s as close as the mention of His name. He will come to you even if we say it in a whisper.
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