break my heart.

How many of you have ever wanted or asked for a broken heart? Pretty weird thing to ask for right? If you have ever had your heartbroken, you know its definitely not the most intriguing thing in the world. And that's why when I was reading this in a book I am currently reading (I read a lot of books, finish a few, but read A LOT) I was a little bit shocked and confused. But then I kept reading. And now, I realize that a broken heart can be a good thing. It leads us into action.

The author writes about how often we come across things that should break our hearts and lead us to do something about it. But often, we don't. Maybe our hearts do break for a split second and then we go on with our lives as if we don't have time to be compassionate. Or maybe for a split second we even want to DO something, but we don't have the courage or we think that it will be menial to the big picture. But what if God is putting that on your heart for a reason? What if in those moments that you literally feel your heart breaking and your heart rate increasing, you actually DID something? A lot of times we pray for people less fortunate, or we pray for those who are hurting. And that's awesome, because prayer is powerful. But what if we took that heart break and ACTED upon it. How different would our world be? How different would WE be...

The author then goes to write about a man who was commonly heart broken, and always acting upon it. In Matthew 15:32, He saw the hungry and he was moved with compassion. In Luke 7:13 and John 6:35, He saw the emotionally devastated and His heart was broken for them. In Matthew 14:14, he saw the physically sick and He took and action based on his compassion. When this man wasn't acting upon his broken heart, he was telling others about it. "Jesus didn't just preach a gospel...He lived one". Now WE are His hands and feet. WE must allow ourselves to become selfless and reach out to others.

In this book, the author quotes something from someone she encountered. And this statement punched me right in the stomach. "Christians seem to have the amazing ability to say the most wonderful things without believing them...The sayings of Christ coexist passively in their minds, producing hardly any effect beyond what is caused by mere listening to words so amiable and bland". If you are a believer, maybe this punched you in the stomach too. And if you aren't, maybe you are actually saying "AMEN!". The sad thing is, is that it is so true. While no christian professes to be perfect (hopefully!) and while we all fall short of the glory of God, we must stop simply believing things without putting any of that emotion in to action. If we want to bear the name of Christ, we must be willing to bear the heartbreak that should come with it.

Maybe this heart break thing sounds to crazy. Coming from personal experience, a broken heart is terrible. But now I see that a broken heart means that you actually do have a heart. You have compassion, and that's an amazing thing. After taking a mission trip to Honduras this past summer, I really felt my heart breaking a few times. But it wasn't a bad feeling. It was moving. It was empowering. And it was life changing. Now...I hope my heart never stops breaking.