Tuesday my heart broke. I haven't had a broken heart many times in my life, so I try to pay attention to when it happens. The bible teaches that God is close to the brokenhearted, and so I figure that when my heart breaks, God has something that he wants to do with me.
In our regular Tuesday morning staff meeting, we had some guests. The folks from International Crisis Aid came to talk with us about the international sex trafficking industry and their plans to open a safe house here in St Louis for victims of sex trafficking here in the US. As I listened to the stories of extreme evil. I began to feel my chest tighten up and my emotions overwhelmed with anger, disgust, sorrow, and despair. I thought of the girls. Trapped. Violated. De-humanized. I thought of the men who had become so enslaved to their sin that they willingly executed such evil upon children. The darkness became so overwhelming that I felt like I was being crushed.
The gospel of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God exists to heal and restore. But often the first step to healing and restoration is to be broken. I never know if I like songs about being broken. The "brokenness is what I long for" kind of stuff. Isn't the whole point to be restored? I've had enough with being broken; I want to be fixed. But, the heartbreak I experienced this week was a powerful force of healing. It drove me back to the gospel to claim the blood of Jesus as my refuge and my strength, and to cry out boldly to God for justice for these lost children.
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