3 Things to Remember When You’re Brokenhearted

Is God blind to the pain you feel when your dreams die and your heart breaks?

No, not at all. Today I want to share three things to remember when you’re brokenhearted.

My friend asked me to write this post for her last year when she needed some encouragement. I left it as a draft and sent it to her—but now I’m actually posting it, updated with a couple more tidbits!

I pray that if you’re brokenhearted today, you finish this post feeling encouraged.

What do you do when you’re brokenhearted?

If you’ve ever lived any life, you know very well that things can go differently than planned out, often leaving us brokenhearted.

We never saw the curveball coming and are left feeling punched in the gut.

What is one to do? And how does God factor into it all?

Here’s what He has to say about things like this!

1. God is near to the brokenhearted.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.
(Psalm 34:18)

God sees what hurts you. He’s not blind to your pain.

He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.
(Psalm 147:3)

He’s Jehova Rapha, our healer (Exodus 15:26)—healer of physical bodies and healer of broken hearts.

He even sent the Holy Spirit to be our comforter:

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.
(John 14:16)

The very first person we should turn to in our time of pain and need is God. He’s the only One Who can truly comfort us and give us exactly what we need.

Set aside time to spend with God. Worship Him, thank Him, and let Him heal everything that has hurt you.

For I am the Lord who heals you.
(Exodus 15:26)

2. God desires to be first place in our lives.

The second thing to remember when life leaves us brokenhearted is to keep God first. God desires to be #1 in our lives.

God’s way is perfect. All the Lord’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.
(Psalm 18:30)

If we’re extremely focused on one aspect of our lives, we’re left heartbroken when things don’t go as planned.

God has more for us than that—more and better things than we could imagine! (Ephesians 3:20)

He wants to be the most important One in our world. He loves us so much that He wants to have a deep relationship with us—to be our #1. We should desire Him above everything else.

3. What happens when we keep God first place?

This is where things get good!

Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.
(Psalm 37:4)

If you keep God first place, He’ll make sure everything else falls into place, too!

In the Old Testament, the Israelites spoke against the Lord and He sent fiery serpents among them. (Numbers 21:4-9) But when they repented and cried out to God, He had mercy on them.

God instructed Moses to make a bronze serpent and lift it up before the people. When the Israelites looked at it, even though they were bitten by the serpents, they survived.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
(Numbers 21:8-9)

Guess Who that special bronze serpent is now?

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, …
(John 3:14)

Jesus is now the One we lift our eyes to. Trials in this life can come at us and bite us, dreams can fail, and our hearts can break—but as long as we’ve lifted Jesus up and keep our eyes on Him, we have the ability to be in total peace and cannot be taken out by what happens.

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.
(Isaiah 26:3)

Do you know how steady and rock solid that makes you?

I really love the ability to stand rock solid no matter what life throws at you (which is why I like living by the invariable truth, not the variable facts).

My role model for this is Paul. When Paul kept his eyes on Jesus (“nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus” — Acts 20:24), he was able to say that none of his “many tears and trials which happened to [him] by the plotting of the Jews” (Acts 20:19) moved him (Acts 20:24).

And if you read where Paul describes his trials (2 Corinthians 11:22-29), you’ll see he had a lot of things that could have moved him!

But none of these things move me …
(Acts 20:24)

I have “NONE OF THESE THINGS MOVE ME” written on paper and hanging up on my desk wall. I wrote it last year when my arthritis flared up the worst it ever had, and I’ve been looking at it ever since.

(And now? My rheumatologist can’t find anything. I’ve still a little ways to go before I’m completely symptom-free and strong again, but none of those things move me, either!)

Conclusion

Everyone knows this life can hurt. But God heals our broken hearts if we cry out to Him for comfort. He loves us more than anything in the entire world, and He jumps at the chance to help His children.

The more we lift Jesus up and keep our eyes focused on Him, the less the things in this life can hurt us.

I will honor those who honor me.
(God, 1 Samuel 2:30)

Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.
(Psalm 37:4)

When Jesus has first place, everything else will fall into first place, too—even the desires of your heart.

—
This is something I’m working on as I face broken dreams and a discouraged heart in my own life. Isn’t it funny that I wrote the post I needed more than a year before I needed it? One sentence in particular was spot-on. God spoke to me… through me. XD

I read both Psalm 34:18 and Psalm 37:4 in my time with God today, so I knew this was something I needed to post.

Recommended Resources

This song, Praise Over Problems by planetboom, relates to this post perfectly.

we’re lifting Jesus up / and the walls come down

I recommend listening to this encouraging praise song to help remind you to lift Jesus above everything!

Also, I compiled a short PDF about choosing joy which is a newly updated version of one of my very first posts: about kicking the devil’s butt in your everyday life by choosing joy despite your circumstances.

The truth in this PDF changed my life, by the way. I pray it’ll encourage you if you’re going through a rough patch—or just want to have more of God’s best and His joy in your life!

I finished it a while ago, and you can get it by subscribing to the Life Undefeated Victory Newsletter for post updates and additional resources (or, if you’re already subscribed, I sent you an email containing it just now!).

But if you don’t want to subscribe, you can download the PDF right here. I just love you.

Feel free to share in the comments how God has helped you when facing heartbreak! Let me know: how can I be praying for you this week? I absolutely take time to pray about specific things.