Break my heart...

I have been drafting this post for the past week, never knowing when I should post it. As I sat in church tonight, I just kept smiling, knowing that it was time.

As I said in a previous post, I feel full. I know that I am filled to be emptied again, and I love that. I love that God, even in His infinite wisdom, considers me, ME, worthy enough to be a vessel of hope and love to this world. Pretty crazy.

This week, while going around to different school sites, my heart was broken and heavy. Driving through these neighborhoods, you see poverty, homelessness, sadness, and brokenness of all kinds. When I got out of my car, I saw a man sleeping on the sidewalk of the school under a blanket. My heart just sunk. On any given day I complain about not having my "nice bed." HELLO, at least I have a bed. Hell, at least I have a house to sleep in. My heart was heavy for the community, for the families, for the school, for the students. My heart was broken for something that I KNOW breaks HIS heart.

I have had the amazing privilege and great responsibility to journey with some close friends through some pretty excruciatingly sad times. Divorce, break-ups, miscarriages, unknowns in pregnancies, cancer diagnoses, job loss, love lost, death, disappointment, self-doubt, and unexplainable pain. It hasn't been easy. My heart has been broken and heavy over each of these issues with each person close to me. Again, I know that each one of these situations breaks the heart of the God of the universe.

Most of us have heard the song Hosanna, and many of us have even had the opportunity to sing it out. The lyrics, "break my heart for what breaks Yours," has taken on a whole new life for me these days. It is a scary prayer to pray. When you think about the implications of that prayer, you realize that you are essentially praying for a mess. A holy mess.

I know I'm filled to be emptied again. I believe that I am filled to be emptied to love and encourage and challenge and simply be in the midst of these messes.

Does your heart break for what breaks His?