Back in the late 80's I listened to a speech from a man named Guy Doud, a schoolteacher from Minnesota who in 1986 was recognized as National Teacher of the Year. He told the following story: (The quotes are not verbatim, but as close as I can remember them.)
"Basically I had three kind of students. There were those who knew early on that they were going to college, so they wanted good grades and good S.A.T. scores. I had no problem motivating them - they motivated me. Then you had the students who had no desire to go to college, but they knew that they had to earn that high school diploma if they wanted a chance to get a decent job. Then there were kids like "John" (not his real name.) John never spoke to anyone - classmates or teachers. The quality of his homework was minimal; just enough to get by. If I called on him during class for anything, he would instantly turn red and mumble as few words as necessary. I never could find a way to break through with him."
"One day I was standing outside the classroom as kids were coming in, and John walked by. I tried to strike up a conversation with him:
"Hey John!"
"Hey."
"How ya doing today?"
"K"
"So John, do you have plans for this weekend?"
He said that John looked at him and said, "I'm going to see my mother."
(After a pause) "...Don't you get to see her whenever you want?"
"I haven't seen her in nine years. She deserted us."
With that, John walked into the classroom.
Mr. Doud said that he stood there speechless for a moment. He said that in that moment he recognized that the "brilliant lecture that I was about to give on split infinitives" just didn't seem that important anymore.
My point in telling that story is this: every time I sit down to type this devotional, and every time I step behind a pulpit to preach, I need to remind myself that there may be someone like John reading or listening. Maybe it's you right now. You've been hurt and betrayed by the very people you should have been able to count on the most. You may be doing a great job at hiding your loneliness from others, but you can't hide from the sadness that you see in your eyes when you look in the mirror. A lot of people are hurting in a lot of ways. Regardless of what you may be facing right now, I want to encourage you with these words from Psalm 34:18:
"The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit."
if you are hurting right now, I do not offer you church, religion, or good works - I encourage you to take those hurts to the Lord. Jesus has already born our sorrows, and if you will allow Him to, He will bring healing to your broken heart.
Like the teacher in that story, sometimes people's pain has left me speechless, unsure of how to respond. But I guarantee you that the Holy Spirit will know exactly what to say and do for you.
Go ahead - the Friend of the broken heart is waiting for you now.
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