{"id":2169,"date":"2019-12-02T03:06:34","date_gmt":"2019-12-02T03:06:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/?p=2169"},"modified":"2019-12-02T03:06:34","modified_gmt":"2019-12-02T03:06:34","slug":"longing-hearts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/?p=2169","title":{"rendered":"Longing Hearts"},"content":{"rendered":"

“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted , And saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18 NASB)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Holidays can be hard when we\u2019re missing folks we love. Longings brought on by death, distance and estrangement are extenuated during times of togetherness and celebration. These situations affect most families. Common survival techniques include pretending, numbing and busyness. They don\u2019t work.<\/p>\n

As the holidays approach, I\u2019ve been asking God for His comfort when people I love are absent. I\u2019m asking for clarity and a deeper understanding of His love. I know He\u2019s with me through all of life\u2019s struggles, especially when my heart aches.<\/p>\n

In the comfort of His nearness I\u2019m learning:<\/p>\n

God\u2019s Love Fills Every Fiber of My Longing Heart<\/strong><\/h4>\n

David wrote:<\/p>\n

\u201cMy soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”<\/span>[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord, And to meditate in His temple.\u201d<\/span>[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cYou have put gladness in my heart , More than when their grain and new wine abound.”<\/span>[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

As much as I miss folks who are absent, there\u2019s a growing awareness of God\u2019s nearness and His preeminent love. His love fills my longing heart to overflowing.<\/p>\n

Henri Nouwen calls God\u2019s love our first love and all other loves second. He says we get crushed when we begin to demand from lesser loves what only God can give.[4]<\/a> \u201cGod has created you and me with a heart that only God\u2019s love can satisfy. And every other love will be partial, will be real but limited, will be painful.\u201d[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

Human absence Deepens Dependence on God\u2019s Love<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Nouwen also said that if we\u2019re willing to not let the pain of lesser loves make us bitter, it will prune us and give us a deeper sense of our being beloved by God. When this happens, we can be free as Jesus.[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

As much as the absence of those we love can hurt,\u00a0 it can drive us deeper into the unfailing love of God in Christ. This growing awareness of God\u2019s unconditional, never ending love fortifies our longing hearts and infuses us with the Joy of God\u2019s nearness.<\/p>\n

Resting in God\u2019s Love Frees us to Love<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Jesus said, \u201cAs the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you; Now remain in My love.\u201d (John 15:9 NIV)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

As I\u2019m learning to walk in God\u2019s love for me, soaking in the completeness of His embrace, He’s bringing freedom. Unchained from incapacitating grief, I can love the people who are near, as He’s loved me.<\/p>\n

Lord, You\u2019ve heard the pain of my longing heart. You\u2019re teaching me of Your great love. Human love was never meant to satisfy. You complete me, freeing me to love with no expectations.\u00a0 If I can’t be with the ones I love, allow me to love the ones I’m with.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Psalm 63:1<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Psalm 27:4<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Psalm 4:7<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Documentary \u2013 Journey of the Heart: Henri Nouwen<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> The Hour of Power June 1992<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Documentary \u2013 Journey of the Heart: Henri Nouwen<\/p>\n

Joy in the Journey is about the gladness of God\u2019s nearness in the midst of life\u2019s adventures. Subscribe below to get email notifications of new posts. We post once a week. Thank you for reading.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Novels by the Author:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Beyond Time<\/a><\/p>\n

Hope Remains<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted , And saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18 NASB)<\/p>\n

Holidays can be hard when we\u2019re missing folks we love. Grief of death, distance and estrangement is extenuated. These situations affect most every family. Common survival techniques include pretending, numbing and staying very busy. They don\u2019t work.<\/p>\n

As the holidays approach, I\u2019ve been asking God for His comfort when people I love are absent. I\u2019m asking for clarity and a deeper understanding of His love. I know He\u2019s with me through all of life\u2019s struggles, especially when my heart aches.<\/p>\n

In the comfort of His nearness I\u2019m learning:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2171,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1623,1646],"tags":[890,1644,1631,723,1142,1636,1642,405,21,170,549,1639,1627,1635,163,1628,7,1591,1624,1633,1637,1643,1641,1638,1269,1625,725,1626,1632,1645,1640,1629,1630],"class_list":["post-2169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-completely-loved","category-free-to-love","tag-abiding-love","tag-beloved-by-god","tag-broken-hearted","tag-deep-longings","tag-emotional-pain","tag-estrangement","tag-first-love","tag-freedom","tag-gladness","tag-gods-love","tag-grief","tag-heart-aches","tag-henri-nouwen","tag-holidays","tag-john-159","tag-journey-of-the-heart","tag-joy","tag-joy-of-gods-presence","tag-longing-heart","tag-meditate-in-his-temple","tag-numbing","tag-painful","tag-preeminent-love","tag-pretending","tag-psalm-274","tag-psalm-3418","tag-psalm-47","tag-psalm-631","tag-resting-in-gods-love","tag-soul-thirsts","tag-struggles","tag-the-hour-of-power","tag-walking-in-gods-love"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2169"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2179,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2169\/revisions\/2179"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}