I am convinced that the greatest way to pour hope into your hurting heart is to sink deep into the love of God and to know—really know—the height, width, and depth of God’s tender love for you. When God’s love fills and overwhelms you, you know you are not alone and that, by His power, you can face whatever is before you.
Understanding God’s Love in Suffering
If you are in pain, you may feel numb or even dead inside. You can’t feel the expansive agape love in which Jesus longs to enfold you. But let me say this clearly: You are not dead. You are alive! I know, you hate pain. So do I. But perhaps your pain is creating an opportunity for God to show you something new about the way He loves you. As C. S. Lewis says in his book, The Problem of Pain, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
Having two daughters in cancer-treatment programs at the same time made me numb. All I knew was that I needed to feel God’s love. I ran to Him and cried, “My God, I must sense You wrapping Your love around me and holding me tight.”
For months, I’d been quoting Psalm 63:8, “My soul clings to you.” (ESV). I’d been clinging to God, wrapping my arms around Him in a desperate attempt to soothe the ache in my soul. But when I first heard the song “Just Be Held” by Casting Crowns, I was undone. As I meditated on the words of the song, God showed me that I didn’t need to cling to Him for dear life, as I’d had been doing. No. He wanted me to stop striving. To sigh, lean back, and be held by Him. For me, this was a deeper understanding of God’s love.
Resting in God’s Love Instead of Striving
Maybe you think, That’s fine for you, Linda. But God doesn’t love me. If He really loved me, He never would have let this horrible thing happen. Oh, friend, God does love you. His open arms wait for you just like they did for me. Listen to truth:
Nothing Can Separate You from God’s Love
I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39
Or I could paraphrase God’s Word this way:
No! Neither cancer nor dementia, neither job loss nor home loss, neither the death of a child nor betrayal by a loved one—no evil person, no hurricane, no wildfire can separate uniquely created you from the love of your Abba Father.
Can I encourage you to open your heart, let down your barriers, and experience His love? It’s a love like no other, a love that comforts and heals, a love that is supernatural
Receiving God’s Love to Heal Your Heart
Oh, friend, I so want you to know firsthand the deep, deep love God has for you. But you can’t know this love unless you open your wounded heart and receive it. Only receiving His love will heal your hurting heart. This is what the Adoration Gals learned.
Adapted from Hope for My Hurting Heart by Linda Dillow. Copyright © 2025. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries.
