Why are we so fragile? Is it just me? One week seems to be so perfect and the next - everything just falls apart! One moment I am confident and courageous and the next I am anxious and wanting to hide in a wine press like Gideon did in Judges 6:11! Life just seems to be such a continuous roller coaster these days!
Even so called "safe havens" don't seem to be all that safe anymore. I think what happened in Christchurch the other week shattered us all! Life is precious and it can shatter in so many different ways!
More and more young kids are feeling "broken" too. There's even a YouTube channel where kids can share their stories and tell about the problems they are having in their lives. It's called "storybooth " and so many of their stories are about broken hearts! The stories are animated to protect their privacy, but just listening to them, you can tell they are so real. Some of them tell stories of parents who are supposed to make them feel safe, but sometimes simply fail to do their job because they yell and verbally abuse them or worse. I was watching a video titled "Mean Mum" and I must admit, even though I have never verbally abused my kids, I did feel guilty because I have certainly "yelled" in the past! The truth is though, that even yelling can shatter a child's heart. I am aware of that now. I wish I had known this earlier, because nobody deserves a shattered heart and especially not my children. Make no mistake, I was a very protective mom, but sadly, sometimes I was also completely overworked and overwhelmed. This YouTube channel has 4 million subscribers and about 20 million views per video, so I am sure it is safe to say that the problem of "broken hearts" is ripe these days!
I have spent many years now mending my own broken heart
Last Christmas, while cleaning my lounge, a little statue of Joseph accidentally dropped to the floor and shattered into pieces. I was so sad! This is a special little figurine and without Jesus' Daddy the set wouldn't be complete. So, I decided to try and fix it and low and behold, I learnt a few things about my own heart...
Some days are just more stressful than others and, on those days, we are more likely to overstep the "good parenting" rules and break a little heart. We all get tempted to shout at our children. A bit of shouting might not always harm a child, but it has been my experience that it can and does. Temptations are normal, but when we give in to temptations that's when real damage usually happens. I know, because I grew up in a very toxic environment. I listened to so many fights in my family and every time, my heart broke a little bit more. It soon looked just like this figurine. Perhaps you have also broken your child's heart on occasion or perhaps you had your own heart broken. But please know that there is hope! Because 
It's in a quiet time where God reassures our hearts. That's where he picks up the pieces and starts joining them back together. Do you need an example? Are you new to "quiet time" and doubtful that it really works? Well, say, for example, you once had cancer, like I did, but you are healed now. Your doctor assured you that they can't find anything, but every now and then you are still scared. For no good reason you are afraid that it might still be there and all the faith and courage that you mustered up yesterday seems to be shattered into pieces today. When courage eludes me, I run to God now. I hide in my little quiet time corner and spend a few minutes alone with Him. I did that the other day and what did He do? He answered me through His word. My daily devotional was pointing me towards Psalm 9:1 "I will praise you, LORD, with all my heart..." and though, at first, I didn't feel like praising at all, because fear had crept back into my heart, I did read on and found verse 3 and 4: "My enemies retreated; they staggered and died when you appeared. For you have judged in my favor..." and 
When we have a quiet time, God takes the broken pieces of our lives and hearts and puts them back together. Even better than I did with this little statue. In one of her teachings, Joyce Meyer said that His word, when you read it, is like the antidote to the poisons we accumulate in our souls. I so agree! But there is something we need to do so that God can work on our souls - we need to repent or confess! Not in public, just at home, alone with God, in a quiet time is fine. He will always forgive us and he is always willing to start putting us back together. But I have also learnt that sometimes healing takes time. It wasn't easy to put some of these pieces together and my soul was surely more broken than this little figurine. It also couldn't have mended itself and neither could I! I was hiding the broken pieces of my heart for quite some time. I kind of stashed them in a far corner of my mind in a box labelled "do not open" for many years, but God found the box anyway and when He did, I finally told him about everything that broke my heart. He is a patient God and He will listen and only He can really mend a broken heart! 
I couldn't find all the pieces of this little figurine, so if you look closely, you will see that it is still missing some parts. How apt! I believe that when we try and fix ourselves, we really struggle to heal completely. God can do a much better job! All we have to do is give Him the broken pieces of our hearts and He will even find the little missing ones! He fixes them with his own glue called - LOVE! By having a quiet time with Him, I have noticed that he not only joins the pieces back together, He also fills all the tiny little cracks with His love. So, next time you have a blowout - please don't feel condemned, just apologize to your child and then take it to God as soon as you can and confess it to Him. Pray and tell Him about your overreaction and if you can, pray with your child also. He will mend both of your broken hearts!
So many hearts in this world are broken, often because of a lack of parenting these days. But God has given us promises and I would like to list some of them here just as a reminder of His love:
"The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed." Psalm 34:18 NLT
"He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds." Psalm 147:3 NLT
"Even if my father and mother abandon me, the LORD will hold me close." Psalm 27:10 NLT
"And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty." 2 Cor 6:18 NLT
"God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure." Eph 1:5 NLT
"So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, "Abba, Father." Rom 8:15 NLT
I hope that these Scriptures are giving you some hope. They certainly did give me comfort. I am living proof that the Word of God has the power to heal your soul and change you completely into a new person. I might not be finished yet, a total transformation can be a long journey, but by God's grace I am well on my way to a better life!
I have learnt that, like this little figurine, our hearts can easily be broken and sometimes it just happens by no doing of our own. There are so many negative influences in this world. But I mustn't let them take over my life. Even if they are coming from someone very close, like a parent or a very dear friend. I only had normal glue to fix this little statue, but God has an endless amount of love. He patiently pieces us together with His love. If we let Him. I wish you many...
HAPPY QUIET TIMES this week everyone!!!
(All photos are my own.)
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