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A friend of ours has struggled with heart problems for years. He’s gone through seasons of wellness and seasons of strain. Recently, his health challenges moved from the back burner to the front when his doctors recognized the need to operate.
He didn’t just need a simple procedure. He needed open heart surgery to the max. I mean we’re talking valve replacements, ablations, hole repairs, and more.
In the wee hours of the morning before his surgery, my friend’s heart decided to cause problems that led them to the Emergency Room instead of the Operating Room. Thankfully, his surgeon rushed to the scene and took him right into surgery.
Hours later his heart was repaired. In the days that followed, scary setbacks came and went. Each one was dealt with head-on. I asked his wife how I could pray for him. Was there anything specific? Her answer surprised me. “Just pray that he will have the will to press on through the healing process because it is going to be a long, hard haul.”
When I hung up from our conversation, I paused and reflected on her request.
In essence, I will be praying for him to have the heart (the strength, the guts, the determination) to fight for his heart to heal fully.
Wow. I know that struggle well.
Week after week, loved one after loved one, struggle after struggle … this is one of the biggest challenges we face. Having a heart fixed on healing. To press through to a place of wellness and strength: spiritually, emotionally, and psychologically. To not back down from the resistance before us in light of the rewards that await us. To run the race of faith well!
I’ve asked God for forgiveness, but I just don’t know how to forgive myself.
I know the Bible says God loves me, but I feel invisible. I don’t FEEL loved and adored.
I believe that God has a plan for my life, but I’m so tired of waiting for it to develop.
I want restoration in my relationship, but I’m not making the first move.
I know my eating patterns are unhealthy and they undermine my wellness, but God loves me just the way I am!
I worry all the time and struggle with anxiety. I really want to trust God, but often fail.
After we go through initial heart repairs with Jesus, many of us find ourselves as wounded believers. Close to whole, but still broken. We want healing but won’t or don’t know how to move forward in the direction of the Healer toward the complete wholeness He has for us.
This is hard stuff. I know. I struggle too. We all do.
Ultimately: every one of us is a work in progress. Our challenges and failures are real and should be acknowledged and confessed. But our faith that God can and will tend to our wounds must be greater.
So, I join in prayer as our friend faces months of therapy, doctors’ appointments, medicine changes, emotional exhaustion, and unseen struggles.
And I’m grateful we pray to the one, true God who loves, sees, hears, purifies, answers, comforts, protects, forgives, and heals those who cry out to Him. He is the great Surgeon who rushes to us in our emergency rooms and takes us to the operating room of His presence.
The One who knows how to care for each wound, burden, and bruise.
“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:28-31).
So, when your heart needs healing, pray and press through barriers in the strength and grace of Jesus. His plan is good. His faithfulness is unwavering. His presence is always accessible.
Move in God’s direction and give Him the burdens of your heart.
Dear Lord, This is hard! Thank You for allowing me to be honest about the challenges that tangle me up. Please move in my heart and in my circumstances today so that I can move forward in faith as I hold tight to the hope I have in Christ. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
FOR YOUR REFLECTION and RESPONSE
What would heart healing look like for you today?
If you’re ready to move in that direction, I sure would love to hear about it and pray for you. Click here to leave a comment or to post a prayer request.
Feel like giving up? Learn how God wants to bring you beyond your past heart-wounds and your present challenges to His wholeness, strength and beauty. Broken into Beautiful is filled with Scripture and stories that will inspire you toward the life-changing grace of Jesus. To order the book, go to Amazon or, for a signed copy, visit my store.
Comments 18
My friend of 55 years, Germaine, has endometrial cancer and can no longer
receive chemotherapy as the cancer has spread to lymph nodes and I
would like prayers said for her complete recovery please. I thank you
very much.
her friend Connie
Dear Gwen- I am honestly struggling in my relationship with God. Does he hear me? I lost my job two years ago and still haven’t found a job. My mom is on hospice with a very rare disease and isn’t expected to live much longer. My best friend was recently diagnosed with cancer. I myself suffer from health problems. I’m at a loss and could truly use some prayer.
I’m praying for all of you Jodi.
I was a pastor’s wife. The last ten years of our marriage my husband was in love with someone else. I prayed, read books on how to save my marriage, begged God to intervene, sought counseling and… God was silent. For the sake of our adult children and future grandchildren, we agreed to remain friends. Fourteen years later, my heart hasn’t healed. My ex’s new love disappeared from his life. Our family has no unity. I have prayed for healing…God has been silent. It’s near impossible for me to accept that God cares for me. My life’s calling, my ministries, my home and most everything that gave my life meaning is gone. And God is silent.
God, I want you to receive glory for the restoration of my life.
Author
Hi Becky, Thanks for sharing your story and for being vulnerable. I’m sorry for the pain and betrayal you’ve been through. That’s simply horrible. I don’t have any simple answers for you, but I DO KNOW that when people fail us God does not. Even when we don’t feel or sense HIS love, it is constant for HIS children. Dr. Henry Cloud offers a workshop on trauma you can register for here: https://www.boundaries.me/trauma
Here are a few videos that might be helpful as well: https://youtu.be/d6EGfL79BHw
https://youtu.be/c7giMseuF74
https://youtu.be/MilyBNtnzOQ
I need prayer to forgive myself. It’s easier to forgive others but I struggle with my own self.
Thank you so much for sharing
Thank you for this devotional. It spoke to my heart. Pardon the pun. Please pray for me to have peace concerning troubling issues with my family for God to resolve conflicts and bring reconciliation.
My prayer partner for 20+years was just diagnosed with ALS. We struggle with if this is of the enemy or God allowing this. Pleas be in prayer for Karen. She is the sweetest and beautiful Christian women and is abandoned to serve God and not give up or turn away.
Thank you for this powerful word, Gwen. We are all works in progress and we serve a God who can mold and shape us, who can helps us change.
My mother has a heart condition and all that you shared about your friend’s healing process is true but God. Glory to God, my mother is getting stronger daily so as I pray for her I will include your friend.
God is soooo good!! In the mist of me helping my mother I lost my job and seeking employment but through it all God is still good.
May God continue to bless, keep & cover you and your family.🙌🏾
Please pray for my daughter Liz she has to go in front of a Judge on September 27 for her Social Security Benefits please pray they will be approved this time and please pray for my sugar
Thanks for today’s message. I am having a stress test tomorrow and this really spoke to me. Asking for prayer for peace for tomorrow…because I am stressing over the stress test!
Thanking you for your prayers in advance!
My family really needs prayer. My youngest daughter is 21 and lives with us. She is pregnant out of wedlock and the dad is very much in the picture but has a small child of his own. They are gracious and helpful but my husband has a very hardened heart toward the father and his current son. It breaks my heart to see my husband so hardened and he truly needs a change of heart. He is making everyone miserable, even as we strive to do what God wants us to do. He has never been good at giving Godly love and I am certain it has to do with his own heart. Also asking that God will give the rest of us the wisdom to know when or how to speak or act and the endurance we need to make the most of this situation, for we are blessed.
So I’m asking for prayer with my beautiful teen girl who’s graduating this year. I want us to understand each other, communicate better, and be generous to each other. I also realize that I’m the 4th mother on here with a request to press on/ get closer with their child. God help us please! Work in us, so your love will remove animosity, guilt, hurt and fear. Help us to love our children as you love us. Help us to communicate with you more, so we can communicate better with our children. Send your holy spirit to intervene so we can get back our children. Give them a desire for you. May your love abound in us and through us and may we bless each other with your love for generations to come. May we respect honor and love each other as you’ve ordained, in Jesus’ name I pray. Amen
My step-sister just had gastric bypass surgery. She is an emotional eater and has a long road ahead of her. The devotional today spoke just to that – the healing process. I pray she has the strength and desire to press on and get thru this. Thank you, Gwen!!
I really needed to read this for my heart has been broken for some time now. Although things are the same in my marriage and with my teenager, I know there is hope in my Heavenly Father who is my defender! At times, I want to just give up and walk away, but in my heart, I know this is where I need to be and God is working for good on my behalf. Praying for courage, strength and endurance in my marriage and family. Thank you for being a Godly vessel for Christ! You are a Blessing to so many!
I need prayer for reconciliation with my daughter Samantha.
An on time word for me, after enduring several panic attacks last night. Woke up after having little sleep due to a bad storm outside. That’s when I saw this word it really spoke to me to not give up. I desire to be free from anxiety and depression. Please keep me in prayer. Thank you,
Bridgette from Colorado
This meditation was like medication to my tired soul this morning. Thank you. ❤️