Are you kidding? Is there such a thing as to actually overcome heartache, the pain that sears at night, and aches during the day?
Hubby held his blue jeans above the clothes hamper. “Be sure to put them in the dryer,” he said.
I grinned. Times prior, after washing them, I had just let them air dry. Bad move because the material ended up kind of stiff.
Of course they did. The hot air in the dryer is what prevented them from being stiff. The fabric softener gave them a nice scent and the tossing round and round made them soft. “They’ll go in the dryer, big boy,” I said.
Blue jeans and I have gone through a familiar adventure. Have you? At times, we go through life, kind of happy, facing no serious problems, no deep heartache or devastation. And goodness gracious, that was me. And I wouldn’t admit this to anyone but only to you, dear faithful readers of my blog. In my superficial happy life, I had become a bit stiff with pride, thinking life was in my control.
Then like a sudden wave, I ended up facing heartache. I asked myself what happened. How did it happen?
I think lots of people have gone through this same cycle. Maybe you have, too. And to our surprise, we realize that the heat of adversity, the emotional tossing and the high temperature of pain are precisely the needed thing to soften a hardened heart.
But we all fight it, don’t we? We opt for the easy way out of any discomfort we experience. We’d rather just hang dry and hope that the answers, healing and triumph would appear.
But God has a divine way. It may be allowing the heat to increase. Could it be because that is the only way for us to soften enough to receive His healing? It may be the only way for our life to be refined and give off that sweet fragrance, pleasing to Him.
Here are five reminders to help you overcome heartache by enduring the necessary heat:
1. Know the grief is temporary.
2. Each trial has a purpose.
3. Each turn or tumble is a test of faith.
4. The reward comes after the refinement.
5. Although the heat may be unbearable, glory will come through.
God said: “…though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials, these have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire–may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (1 Peter 16:8)
Father, I ask you to show me how to face each trial, each heartache as a teaching tool to refine my soul. May you find me shining as gold because of your power at work in me. I thank you for the faith to endure, the patience to wait, and the hope to heal. In Jesus’s name, amen.
* What heartache are you facing today?
* Is the heat of heartache refining you or is it causing resentment instead?
* How deep is your faith that you will indeed overcome your heartache?
Janet Eckles
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