All of us have lived long enough to know what a broken heart feels like; we understand the feeling when disappoint pounds loudly on our door; we realize the great sorrow it is to say goodbye to a loved one for the last time; we all get that there are times when life hurts. And I would venture to guess the majority of us have at one time or another asked God, “Where are you when I hurt?”
Throughout my life I have come to realize that when I hurt the deepest – it is the place the secrets of my heart are revealed and the depth of my unbelief is seen. A great truth we must come to embrace in order to grow in Christ when life is really hard is the realization that God is there with us even when life doesn’t make sense and even when bad things happen and He is tightly holding us in His strong arms. True, sometimes He speaks, sometimes He is silent, sometimes we are rescued and sometimes we perish, but God is always with us in the struggle and His love for us never changes.
One of the most profound things I have learned to do when I am deeply hurt is to quiet myself and wait. I have found that pain is very loud and fear is very anxious; and together they drowned out the voice of wisdom and distort my view of God.
Isaiah 40:28-31 says, “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might He increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; BUT they that wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up on wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint!”
When we purposely sit down and say to God I want to sit quietly in Your presence and wait; I want to hear Your voice. When we settle ourselves in His grace and peace – it is then we see God’s greatness and experience His presence that in time will quiet our hearts and defeat our fears and truly deeply heal our hurt.
From my heart to yours,
DaNetta Fernandez
An excerpt from “Where is God when I hurt?”A message by DaNetta Fernandez
