With a feeling of anticipation I am holding the parcel in my hands. Even though I already know what is inside, there is still that moment of excitement and curiosity when I open it. Carefully my hands pull apart the wrapping paper and my eyes spot the shimmering glass. My fingers lightly tap on the smooth surface of a vintage cookie jar. However, my joy gets clouded for an instant—taking a closer look I notice that a part of the lid is splintered and broken. The first thought that comes to my mind is to send it back and to claim a new one. But something about it intrigues me and I decide to keep it that way. It has not lost any of its beauty and still fulfills its purpose—being filled with pieces of paper as part of the challenge “30 days of gratitude”.

The jar reminds me of myself as a human being—sometimes empty, hurt and heartbroken. I do not know what your heartbreak looks like. Maybe someone who promised to stick with you left with little warning. Maybe a close friend betrayed your trust or let you down when you needed them the most. Or maybe you have that awful feeling in your gut that the person you love just does not love you back.

But you are not alone in this. God Himself—powerful and holy as He is—knows what it is to have His heart broken. He is not sitting up in the clouds somewhere, watching with detached interest. He is fully engaged with you, pouring out His love on you and longing for you to love Him back. When He made you, He could have created a being who was automatically loyal to Him, who robotically returned His affection. But instead, He designed you with the will to decide how you would respond to Him, and in doing so, He opened His heart to profound love—and profound heartache.

Being rejected

Ever since the beginning, we humans have been breaking God’s heart. Adam and Eve had the opportunity to walk in unbroken closeness with God, yet they rejected the relationship He offered in exchange for a hollow promise. Since then, people have continued to turn their backs on God’s love and faithfulness. Jeremiah recounts the way God aches over the rejection of His love: “They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife” (Jeremiah 31:32). If anyone has felt the sting of rejection, it is God.

Being betrayed

In one of the most heartbreaking illustrations recorded in the Bible, the prophet Hosea lived out a devastating parallel to God’s relationship with His people. God instructed Hosea to marry Gomer, a woman who was compulsively unfaithful to him. Time after time she betrayed him, yet he consistently took her back, loving her against all logic and the advice of his friends. Perhaps you are not so different today. You flirt with less worthy lovers and continually break God’s heart with your betrayal. And still He takes you back, His love is as fierce as ever.

Being abandoned

When you find yourself left alone by someone you love, there is comfort in knowing that God has endured that kind of abandonment too. At the end of Jesus’ time on earth—the darkest hour of His life—He was abandoned by His closest friends, the men He had spent the last three years with. As He was pouring out His grief to God, they were off napping. When He was being arrested, they went into hiding to save their own skin. And when Jesus was on the cross, even God Himself seemed to turn His face away, prompting Jesus to cry out, “My God, My God, why have You abandoned Me?” (Matthew 27:46).

So when you endure these heartbreaks yourself—rejection, betrayal, abandonment—remember, you do not walk through them alone. God has walked that road Himself and is with you. When you feel empty, let God fill you with His promises and be grateful. When your heart is broken, remember that you are given an insight into the very character of God.

Manuela Di Franca