God breaks us up so we can be more useful to Him, I think. Why does He allow His children to suffer? Ask Joni Tada. I now know lonely in a whole new way, to a whole new depth. How can that breaking of my heart be a good thing? How can God explain how He lets me break this badly?
First, He does it so that I will stop looking to either myself or to other people to "fix" me or to take my pain away for me. No one can do that. No human can anyway (just look at the divorce rate, even among evangelicals)
More importantly, He breaks us up to make us more useful to Him. My despair and brokenness and loneliness can either turn me into a bitter old maid or, through His strength and guidance, make me a very compassionate tool to bridge the gap for other people who find the "shiny, happy" church a little too sterile and too pleasant to bear. I love my church, but they can be an unsurmountable wall of suburban bliss to a broken outsider. I cry to think of how we/I failed Linda C. for example. She was searching for God and since we couldn't speak her language, she moved on to a sect that tends to move people away from the Truth and the Life. I pray I will meet her in Heaven one day so I can apologize to her for failing her. But I must trust God to work out His plan regardless of me and what I see as my failings. He promises to work out all things for good. I just have to trust Him on that. (Easier said than done for me, I'm afraid!)
First, He does it so that I will stop looking to either myself or to other people to "fix" me or to take my pain away for me. No one can do that. No human can anyway (just look at the divorce rate, even among evangelicals)
More importantly, He breaks us up to make us more useful to Him. My despair and brokenness and loneliness can either turn me into a bitter old maid or, through His strength and guidance, make me a very compassionate tool to bridge the gap for other people who find the "shiny, happy" church a little too sterile and too pleasant to bear. I love my church, but they can be an unsurmountable wall of suburban bliss to a broken outsider. I cry to think of how we/I failed Linda C. for example. She was searching for God and since we couldn't speak her language, she moved on to a sect that tends to move people away from the Truth and the Life. I pray I will meet her in Heaven one day so I can apologize to her for failing her. But I must trust God to work out His plan regardless of me and what I see as my failings. He promises to work out all things for good. I just have to trust Him on that. (Easier said than done for me, I'm afraid!)
