Jesus also turned to prayer when His heart was heavy. When His cousin John the Baptist was arrested and publicly beheaded for confronting a king about his sin, Jesus ‘withdrew…privately to a solitary place’ (Matthew 14:13 NIV). Throughout our lives we’ll face bad circumstances, disappointment, and grief and while there are people who can help us here on Earth, there’s ultimately no one who can heal a broken heart like God. ‘He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power’ (Psalm 147:3-5 NIVUK). No situation is too big or too small for God to step in. The story of Job gives us an insight into God’s healing expertise. Job lost so much, yet God brought him through it all. God told Job: ‘You will forget your misery; it will be like water flowing away. Your life will be brighter than the noonday. Even darkness will be as bright as morning. Having hope will give you courage. You will be protected and will rest in safety. You will lie down unafraid, and many will look to you for help’ (vv. 16-19 NLT). God can help us move on from our hurts, just like He helped Job. He can give us hope again, and the reassurance that He is for us. And He does that when we take time away from everyone and everything to be with God. When we’re hurting, we need to seek God and ask for His comfort and healing for our broken hearts. We need to take it to Him in prayer.

What now?

Soak a sponge in water so that it’s really heavy. Offload your burdens to God. For each burden, squeeze some water out of the sponge until it’s light again.