What breaks your heart?

There have a been a few times in my life that my heart was broken…

·     When I first was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis (arthritis) and I watched an older lady cross the street very slowly – I could actually ‘see’ and ‘feel’ her pain as I have never seen or felt pain before.

·     My best friend’s daughters running, hugging and telling me that their parents were getting divorced.

·     Sitting in a medical clinic in Ethiopia – dirt floor, meager surroundings and yet it was a place people came and had hope for a cure or better conditions and village leaders verbalized grace and kindness to our team from California.

·     Standing in a hot, humid, mosquito-filled refugee camp in Greece with no showers or ‘real’ bathrooms talking with a Mom and she said she could not move to another camp like this. If that would happen; she would rather return to Syria to her house in rubble and war-torn town as shown to me on her husband’s mobile phone.

·     Feeling pain and numbness from death – my uncle, mom, cousin’s son…heart-broken.

·     Walking on the streets in Budapest today – reaching out to prostitutes, talking with them, offering them tea, snacks, chocolate with two amazing ladies that have been doing this work for quite a while and have heart-breaking as well as inspiriting stories to share.

So as I am not able to get to sleep very easily tonight – these are the thoughts running through my mind. May our hearts break for what breaks God’s….and may we be filled with His grace and love to make a difference at those times and in those situations.  Why?...because life is actually pretty good and God is definitely way better.

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