“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” - Psalm 147:3
Introduction
Separation. Pain. Hatred. Decay. Injustice. Isolation.
The world we live in isn’t what God intended. Brokenness seems to surround us even in our everyday lives. It can be felt in our moments of loneliness, grief, and injustice. At Grace, we believe God is calling us to step into that brokenness. Because when we name what’s fractured, we begin to see where healing can begin.
As a church, we’ve identified six broken places in our world that we believe God is inviting us, to help heal. By recognizing these places helps us understand where the restoration is needed and how each of us can join in the work God is already doing.
Day 1: Separation
What Is It?
Separation from God can sometimes feel like watching everyone else seemingly be “close to God” while you wonder why you don’t feel the same. Sometimes, it can feel more like being homesick for a place you can’t quite describe, or a wanting for something you were made for but can’t find.
This is the first broken place, and the one from which all the others stem from. Human beings are alienated from our Creator, and we are lost. Every other form of brokenness, loneliness, injustice, pain, flows from this root.
How We Can Begin to Heal
Beginning to heal can feel like the hardest step. It starts with honesty with yourself and God. You can start by naming what hurts and admitting what feels distant. Talk to God and tell Him you feel far from Him. You don’t have to perform or pretend, He already knows your heart and is gently waiting for you to come close.
Let the silence become sacred instead of scary. Remember that you can talk to Jesus like you would a friend, because that’s who He is. True connection doesn’t grow out of polished prayers or a performance. Healing takes root in raw, open conversation.
If you would like some help starting the conversation, in this video Dave Rodriguez takes you through an activity that helps create a deep face to face encounter with Jesus.
Reflection
• Where in your life do you feel most disconnected right now?
• Are there places you’ve stopped talking to Him because you assumed He stopped listening?
• Where in your life do you feel far from God?
Prayer
Lord, I miss you. Even when I don’t have the words, help me find my way back. Thank you that you never left me, even in my silence and questions. Amen.
Verses
“They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God.” - Ephesians 4:18
“…without hope and without God in the world.” - Ephesians 2:12
“Yet to all who did receive Him… He gave the right to become children of God.” - John 1:12–13
Day 2: Isolation
What Is It?
Many times, the deceiving thing to think is that isolation just means being alone. But also, it’s being forgotten, pushed out, or feeling unseen. It can be the single parent who no one checks on, or maybe the faithfully serving volunteer who is never “invited”, or even the young adult sitting in service week after week and still feeling unnoticed.
How We Can Begin to Heal
Healing isolation can start with you. Let yourself be seen. Being in the dark of isolation, small steps can feel like climbing a mountain. But by taking the risk to connect, being the first to send a text, invite someone to coffee, or say hi first, can open the door and give someone else the permission to do the same.
Reflection
• Who in your life might be slipping through the cracks?
• Have you mistaken someone’s silence for contentment?
Prayer
Dear Father, you have never ignored me. You have always seen me when I have feel forgotten, or overlooked and have moved towards me with understanding and compassion. Help me see with your eyes and help me love with your heart. Please help me to remember when I feel unseen that you call me by name. And when I see others who are slipping through the cracks that I would have the courage to make room and extend your love to them.
Verses
“When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them…” - Matthew 9:36
“Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” - John 13:34
Day 3: Pain
What Is It?
It is a beautiful spring day. The light breeze whispers over your ears as you walk back out to your car from service, but you have been stuck sitting in your car long after it had ended. Worship was beautiful, the sermon was hopeful, but you can’t shake the numb feeling. You smiled and nodded to people asked how you were doing, but on the inside, you were drowning in grief. The loss was still fresh. No one knew the night before you were crying quietly to God because you couldn’t understand why a God who was supposed to be close felt so far.
Pain is usually the quiet ache that is hidden. It doesn’t stop when the music or prayer ends. It’s something that we smile over because we don’t know how to talk about it. The unanswered prayer, betrayal, divorce. It weakens and isolates and sometimes makes us wonder if God even sees us at all. Though, scripture tells us a different story.
Not only did Jesus know pain, but He entered it with us. When His friend Lazarus died, Jesus came to the tomb. He already knew that his resurrection was minutes away and that there was joy just on the horizon. Still, he wept. Not because he was helpless, but because His friends were heartbroken and in pain. Martha and Mary were crying, and he cried with them. The God of the universe felt the pain of His people.
How We Begin to Heal
Healing pain cannot be rushed. Remove the pressure from yourself that you need, or it needs, to be fixed, now. Feel the grief, journal the anger. Know that you don’t have to fix it all before you let Him in. Often, pain can begin to be healed by presence, now with answers. Know that you are not alone.
Reflection
• What pain are you carrying that no one sees?
• Are you trying to heal by ignoring the wound?
• What would it look like to invite God into that pain, rather than hiding it?
Prayer
God, I am hurting. I’ve tried to carry it and manage it, but it is still here. I need you in the middle of it, to sit with me in this pain. Remind me that you are close to the brokenhearted and that you will not waste my pain. Please bring me rest even while the wound is still healing.
Verses
“He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.”- Isaiah 53:3
“Jesus wept.”- John 11:35
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” -Matthew 11:28
Day 4: Hate
What Is It?
Hate dehumanizes. It reveals itself as bitterness, prejudice, resentment, and judgment. Sometimes it’s loud, sometimes it’s subtle. Hate begins to separate “us” from “them” and distorts our view of others. Often, it can be fueled by our own old wounds or unchallenged assumptions. If we leave hate unchecked, it begins to numb our compassion and harden our ability to love like Jesus.
How We Begin to Heal
Again, we can start to heal by call it what it is. Being able to name the hate, or bitterness, the bias, however it took shape in your heart. Confess it, ask Jesus for forgiveness and repent. Begin to listen to stories outside your own experience, especially the ones that make you uncomfortable. Love sometimes is a discipline and is something we learn by practicing it again and again.
Reflection
• Who have you quietly written off or judged without knowing their story?
• What past hurt might be shaping your present anger?
Prayer
Lord, help me to listen, repent, and forgive. Let me be a messenger of peace. Soften my hear and fill it with compassion. Teach me to love like you love.
Verses
“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” -Matthew 5:44
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” -Romans 12:21
Day 5: Decay
What Is It?
Creation is not what it once was. If we look, we are surrounded by decay. Polluted oceans, deforestation, to distrust in institutions and the breakdown of communities as a whole. Decay could be defined as the fading of what God once called good. It is the loss of what once was alive.
He created the earth with intention and care. We were given the earth to tend and protect, but we have neglected that calling. Bit by bit we have watched the world wither under our care in pursuit of convenience and control.
How We Begin to Heal
To heal decay, we must commit to repentance and restoration. This can look like creation care: consume less, plant more, live gently. Also, it can look like the renewal of what has been forgotten: investing in broken communities, advocating for the marginalized, and preservation of what is beautiful.
Reflection
• Where do you see the decay of God’s creation around you?
• How have you contributed to systems or habits that harm rather than heal?
Prayer
Jesus forgive me for taking for granted what you have so generously given us. Please open my eyes to the ways that I have contributed to the decay of your creation. Teach me to live as a better caretaker, and help me be more like you. Give me the strength to be a part of making things new.
Verses
“The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” -Genesis 2:15
“The creation waits in eager expectation… that it will be liberated from its bondage to decay.” -Romans 8:19, 21
Day 6: Injustice
What Is It?
Injustice is the unfairness built into systems. People are overlooked, underpaid, excluded, or harmed because of their background, identity, or circumstances. This continues when people in power choose to be quiet.
How We Begin to Heal
We can start to heal injustice simply by listening and trying to learn and understand before trying to lead. But the important step here is to then move. You can use your influence, whether you think it is small or large to be an advocate. Justice sprouts from awareness and grows through action. God’s justice moves through his people.
Reflection
• Where have you seen injustice and stayed silent?
• What injustices have you grown numb to?
• What privilege or voice do you have that could be used to help?
Prayer
Jesus, you have overturned tables and have lifted those who have been crushed. Help me be brave enough to do the same as you and use me to correct the wrongs, even in the hard situations.
Verses
“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves…” -Proverbs 31:8
“Act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.” -Micah 6:8
Final Words
We have just walked through the six broken places of the world. Some may have felt distant and others hit close to home. Either way, the reality is these broken places are not just “out in the world” but they are alive in us too.
We have all felt far from our Father, carried pain, harbored anger, or overlooked the hurting. There is hope. Know that God isn’t asking you to fix the whole world, but He is inviting you to be a hand in the restoration of it. He is already working to make all things new and looking for people who are willing to go there, sit in the mess and love even when it can cost.
Take what pulled at your heart through these pages and go. Ask God what your role is that He wants you to play in the healing story. It could be a conversation that you are actively avoiding, a person that you need to see, or maybe a cause that you need to be a part of. Whatever that may be, remember not to wait for a perfect clarity, just be willing.
You don’t need to be whole to help bring healing to others. You just need to say yes.
Prayer
God, thank You for showing where the world, and my own heart, has been broken.
Please help me not to move on quickly or forget what you have shown me. Break my heart for what breaks yours and give me the courage, compassion, and humility to come along with you in the healing of your creation. Amen.
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.” -Isaiah 61:1