brokenhearted

by

Be Made Whole

She sat across from me, this cherub of a child, and asked me to pray that her grandmother who passed away suddenly almost a year ago would come back to her. I leaned in to the Holy Spirit. What do you say, what do you pray after a request like that? I followed His lead.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7, NKJV

I prayed that His peace, that peace that is beyond understanding, that peace that doesn’t make sense, would guard her heart and mind.

Peace, when I hear that word I think of the Hebrew word shalom, completeness and wholeness, nothing missing and nothing broken, the peace that comes from being whole. The word used for peace here in Philippians 4:7 corresponds with the Hebrew word shalom (Vine’s Dictionary, 1996).

This little girl was broken. She was missing her grandmother. She had a hole in her heart in the shape of her grandmother. As I prayed, I saw that God wanted to fill that hole with Himself. He wanted to make her heart whole again.

He would fill that empty place in her heart and she would have peace again. How can you have peace, how can you be whole when your loved one is gone? It doesn’t make sense. Yet His peace surpasses all understanding.

What hole do you need Him to fill? Invite Him to fill it. He will make you whole again. He will give you His peace to guard your heart and mind through Christ Jesus.

Be made whole, in Jesus’ Name, amen.

by

Praying for You

There are times when something quite silly suddenly propels me into a place of prayer for something quite serious. That happened to me today when a song from the 90’s began playing on repeat in my mind. It just wouldn’t go away and I was actually getting quite annoyed.

I decided that maybe if I played the song on Youtube it might finally go away. I began listening to it and the next thing I know, I’m praying. Here are the verses that had been in my mind all morning.

Tell me how am I supposed to live without you/ Now that I’ve been lovin’ you so long/ How am I supposed to live without you/ How am I supposed to carry on/ When all that I’ve been livin’ for is gone.

Yes, I’m a little embarrassed to say that all morning long I’ve had a Michael Bolton song from the 1990’s playing in my head.

But as I listened to that chorus my heart suddenly ached for everyone dealing with loss this holiday season. I prayed as my heart ached for the husband spending the first Thanksgiving and Christmas without his spouse by his side. My heart ached for the wife lost and alone because her best friend, her husband is gone. I prayed for the mother and father who lost a child, young or old. I prayed for those who should be holding a new baby this holiday season, but whose hearts ache with grief because of their empty arms, the empty crib.

I’m praying for you today. I am praying for His peace that passes understanding. I’m praying for the comfort that only He can give at this time. I’m praying for the healing of your heart that only He can bring.

You are not alone. You are not forgotten. I’m praying for you today because you came up in my heart. I’m praying for you today because He put you there. I’m praying for you today because you are on His heart today.

Life be, Love be, Peace be in broken hearts today. In Jesus’ Name I pray. Amen

by

It Is Well

I have mentioned in the past that whenever I write, I always have a song stirring in my soul. Today as I write, the song I’m hearing in my heart is “It Is Well With My Soul”. I’m letting it wash over me as I weep for my friends that just lost their baby.

For 16 years now I have been helping family, friends and strangers navigate through critical illnesses and life’s tragedies. By the grace of God, and only the grace of God, I can remain strong, peaceful and calm in the midst of any storm. However, while I could keep my emotions in check and the tears at bay when most needed, I also found that often the tears never came. But those emotions, those tears don’t just disappear. Little by little they accumulated in my soul. Not good for my soul or for my body which is affected by the activity in the soul.

I have learned to embrace what I call my gift from God of a built in release valve, my tears. It’s okay to cry. I’m telling myself this as I also pray this helps anyone else that needs to hear this.

I sit. I weep. I let Him restore my soul.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul… (Psalm 23:2-3, NKJV)

Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. (3 John 2, NKJV)

You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book. (Psalm 56:8, NLT)

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds [curing their pains and their sorrows]. (Psalm 147:3, Amplified)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNqo4Un2uZI&feature=kp