(Reading Time: 2.5 minutes)
This may sound strange, but it's true:
God loves you enough to break your heart.
Some time ago I found myself trying to get over a guy that I had spent months believing had great potential in my life. He checked off several boxes of what I was looking for in a mate. Spiritually and professionally, we were a good match and I felt as if there was a lot organic chemistry. But, as it often goes in the journey to finding “true love,” the feeling wasn’t mutual.
I’ve heard plenty of happily married couples recount their stories of how God spared them for their amazing mate. They’ve shared how God suddenly ended a relationship, how they were left at the altar, or how they had their first wedding cancelled the night before. They all say it was absolutely painful and even embarrassing at the time, but now they couldn’t be more grateful. Those previous disappointments lead them to the love of their life.
It’s one thing to hear a story and another to experience it though.
When I talked with this gentleman and didn’t hear the words I wanted, my stomach sank. It wasn’t only that the guy had broken my heart. It was that I felt God did, too.
I began to ask God, “Where did I go wrong here? Why didn’t you show me this sooner? Why would you allow me to be invested this long?”
God revealed those answers to me over time, but I eventually found myself less concerned about the specifics and more intrigued by the heart behind each response. With each reflection I began to recognize the love, grace, and mercy that God had been extending to me the whole time.
This young man was a great person with a bright future, but not everybody that is great is great for you.
Where I was saw potential, God saw problems.
Where I saw alignment, God saw compromise.
Where I saw destiny, God saw disruption.
God loved me enough to ruin the relationship, to watch me cry, and to put up with my fits all for the sake of preserving me for the best partner He has in my future. God loved me enough to break my heart. He loves YOU that much, too!
Trust that even when you’re disappointed, God has your best in mind.
Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
