The ministry of transformation must be built upon the premise of our hearts being healed by the love and power of Father God. Yet millions walk around not realizing they have a broken heart. Even if they do know, they shove the pain down in attempts to keep moving on. Yet a broken heart is a condition that leaves us open to further bondage, limited relational growth and can even wear down our health.
The following are some clear signs you have a broken heart:
1. You are very untrusting in relationships.
Whenever we are hurt, we have two choices. The first is to walk the harder road of processing the pain, allowing healing to come our hearts so that we can approach relationship in a wiser way, while still remaining open to trust. The second option is the one most choose. Get over it as quick as possible. Avoid the situation. Shove it down. Move on….period.
The problem is that when we do not properly heal from past hurt, we carry it into our present situations. We start to put up relational walls to protect ourselves. Yet over time, what could have been healthy boundaries has now become prison walls that are holding us hostage. Our lack of trust turns into deep suspicion and even paranoia.
2. You have unrelenting struggles with fear, anxiety and worry.
The Bible says, (1 John 4:18) In other words, if you struggle with fear issues, including anxiety, worry and unrelenting thoughts that torment, then love has not had a full work. You have not experienced love in the way you were designed. This is by far the greatest work of broken-heartedness that exists on the planet: people that were placed in our lives to love us did not love us. They did nothing or they operated in destructive behaviors towards us. This creates a broken void where we struggle to be established in love. Those who struggle with fear have a love deficit in their life, which means they carry a broken heart.
3. You have a hard time processing love.
People attempt to love on you and it does not land naturally. You either quickly toss it back or say anything to take the attention off of yourself. When someone genuinely gives you a hug, there is something in you that squirms. Affection does not flow naturally for you.
For millions, we have no grid in our lives to connect heart to heart with others. We are so goofy talking about subjects that bring up emotions or exchanging affectionate words to each other. We are all crying out for it, but when it comes, we don’t know how to handle it.
So we live life in the shallow end as much as possible.
Why is this? Because our broken hearts can handle the deeper stuff. There is too much pain there. We keep up the facade, as our hearts are terrified of genuine love interaction.
4. You to react in anger a lot.
Anger is often a counterfeit protecting agent of hurt. When we carry hurt in our lives and we do not get true healing and resolve, anger becomes a common manifestation. Anger can be either pent up or expressed. Many people are bursting at the seams with anger, simply because they have not dealt with past issues of brokenness.
5. Your body is beginning to break down.
Proverbs 17:22 tells us, “A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones.” People have said, “he died of a broken heart” but we don’t actually understand how true this is. Our bodies are a responder to the condition of our mind and heart. Whether we admit we have a broken heart or not, our bodies know the truth and will react to that brokeness. Many diseases in our modern world come down to an unhealed broken heart; where the body is in a compromised state; no longer able to fight of disease like it was designed.
6. You are stuck in life.
A broken heart will keep us stuck in the same patterns and dysfunction, until we wake up to our brokeness and allow love to heal us. You are in the same relationships that are dysfunctional and in the same limitations over and over. It is like you are walking around the mountain with attempts to climb higher, but you still keep passing the same spots as you circle around. This is a clear sign that you may need to face an area of brokenness that has not been addressed.
7. You have become robotic.
The life of the heart has been stripped away, so you are now left to just go through the motions. Your days are more numb then they are fulfilling. You go through the robotic daily tasks to try to be a good soldier, but your broken heart is now forming a callous layer around it. The pain has been too great that the walls of protection have solidified, creating an impenetrable barrier to anyone coming in. No one can hurt you. The problem is, no one can love you either.
8. You Have Addictions in Your Life
Addictions are a clear sign that pain and/or emptiness is in your life. If we do not process our brokenness properly, our broken heart will seek out pleasure and relief in ways that are addictive and destructive. Addictions of many kinds abound, but the bondage to these unhealthy habits is our heart screaming out for healing.
The question is, are you listening and getting healing for your heart?
A Broken World
The fact is, we all live in a broken world with broken people who are in need of God to bring heart healing in our lives. The quicker we recognize this, the faster we can move into powerful stages of transformation.
Most of the people around you carry a broken heart and dont know it. They think a broken heart is only those in very open and obvious brokenness. Too many of us hide our brokenness while remaining “functioning” in our life. But is that really functioning?
Where have you been hiding your brokennesss and need to become more honest before God?
Original Post by Mark DeJesus, June 2014.
