Article January 19, 1998 Issue

Out of heartbreak, into joy

Even the gloomiest of circumstances can't cut us off from God's love.

By Colleen Feldmann Douglass

"It just breaks my heart" is a familiar phrase. It might refer to a tragic world condition or the loss of someone or something loved—a spouse who has passed on or a job cut short by layoffs. In its more subtle form, it might even anticipate a future loss such as the inability to bear children or the wasted potential of someone addicted to alcohol. Whatever its costume, a broken heart describes what appears to be a vacuum where there isn't any good, where for some reason God isn't present.

We run into trouble, however, when we try to reason our way to a solution by starting with the problem. From this vantage point, we would have to ask, "How could God allow this to happen?" We might even arrive at the erroneous conclusion that God is incapable of caring or unwilling to care for His creation. Then we might lose hope.

But what would happen if we started with God instead of with the circumstances? The Bible provides a great legacy of how heartbreaking conditions were overcome as individuals turned to an ever-loving Father-Mother God. Take Moses, who led a people long held in slavery to their God-given freedom. Or consider the healings of Jesus, the master Christian. Children thought to be insane, dying, or dead were restored to their parents; lives crippled by disease were renewed; and from just a few fish and some loaves of bread, food was amply provided for over five thousand men, women, and children. And Paul, blinded by his hatred of Christians, regained his sight and went on to lift others out of the blindness of their beliefs. What these men recognized was the presence of the eternal Christ, despite material conditions that looked hopeless.

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