We all know broken people. Many of us are numbered among that group. Today I’m asking you to set aside some of your prayer time for the ones who are not quite right, off at a kilter, missing a chunk, and broken.
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You don’t have to be physically wounded to be in great pain. A dear friend of mine is watching her life spin out of control as she and her husband drift apart. It’s not a quick drift, it’s spurts and jagged pieces of wreckage poking out of the dark. It’s not controlled: neither knows what’s coming next. But she’s broken just the same.
The greatest service I can provide is prayer and an ear. We’re many miles apart, and I wish I could buy her a brownie and a cup of coffee. I’d even hold her head while she cried into my shoulder. I would do anything to keep her aware of the fact that she is loved from above, and that her life is important to God.
So much of our misery and brokenness is due to our own action. We wonder why God doesn’t fix it for us. Well, we broke it, we can ask for help fixing it, but it isn’t always going to be fast, and it almost never is what we expect it to be. I used to have a job with a utility in the credit department. People would call in to pay their bill once they were disconnected and then get angry when I’d tell them it may take up to 72 hours to get the service restored.
“Why, all you have to do is flip a switch?” was the usual response. I wanted to say (but didn’t dare) “Look at the bright side: it took us three months to disconnect you for non-payment. It’s only going to take us three days to restore it. Seems like a good trade to me!”
We expect God to just flip a switch as well. That’s natural. We don’t always look at what led to our troubles. Sometimes we did nothing to get in the bad place. Other times we did it all by ourselves. There’s hard work there that needs to be done to be healed but we want Him to fix it immediately. I wish it were so.
Since it isn’t like that, today is a great day to pray for your friends who are broken. Pray that God gives them respite and healing. Pray that they can muster the strength to do the hard work of healing. Pray that you can support them in this journey. Most of all, pray that God heals your broken parts enough so that you can help others.
That’s the best healing of all: healing others.
