Have you ever felt so emotionally devastated that you can no longer form words but can definitely feel your heart crack and your throat ache from trying to keep your tears from falling?
There are so many things that can cause heartbreak: betrayal, sadness, or perhaps even a loved one’s departure from your life. These things can cause sadness and even make you question your own worth, whether you did something wrong, or whether someone is to blame. In these times when emotion overtakes our judgment, learning to keep negative emotions at bay and learning to grow from the experience (instead of wilt) will help us carry on without any burdens to keep us restless and miserable.
Prayer for a broken heart
Our Eternal Creator,
I come to You with a shattered heart, whose pieces I cannot put together. In this traumatic moment of my life, I seek the glory of Your light and love. No words can express how hurt I am and how this feeling seeps into my bones and affects me in more ways than I imagine. The only one who can ever understand my pain at this moment is You, O Lord. I bow to You in honor and praise, for You welcomed me with open arms when tears are my only explanation.
While I drown in misery, I understand that I am not completely at fault. I falsely believed that love conquers all. Now I know that it’s not love that conquers all; it’s You. Love can only endure if You are its foundation and can only prosper if the connection revolves around Your plans. Forgive me, my gracious God, for the times when I falsely believed that the strength of my earthly attraction is strong enough to overpower or to no longer need Your heavenly love. I am repentant of the times when I loved someone much more than I loved You, my Creator, Defender, Father, and dearest Friend. You alone can love me more than any living creature that exists in the vastness of the universe.
I am thankful for this universe that You have created for me. I am thankful for the daily adventures of my simple life and for a lifetime of meeting meaningful people who each will leave an impact on my soul. I am grateful for all the people I have ever loved, even if that love did not always end as sweetly as it started. The experience of seeing You through the eyes of my loved ones and feeling Your presence in my heart overflowing with emotion is enough.
Lord God, as grateful as I am to have experienced love, I can feel myself getting drained of sunshine and optimism that once colored my life into a rainbow. Through the gloom of the quiet but persistent storm of my heart, all I see now is a world of grayscale, like faded memories of a person I can no longer be with. I wish to be free of this heartbreaking misery and see the rainbow after the rain. I wish to feel the sun on my face and truly laugh for the first time in a while. I beg You to take away this heavy burden that makes me feel so empty of emotion and, at the same time, so full of sadness.
Touch me with sunshine again, Lord. Heal my broken heart, and give me peace and respite from this seemingly endless sadness that has consumed my heart. Heal me, and then help me grow so that in time, I can heal others.
Yours is the highest glory forever.
Amen.
Short prayer to heal my broken heart lord
Lord God, I come before You with a broken heart in need of Your healing touch. My heart is heavy, but I know I can carry myself up this treacherous mountain as I slowly leave behind my burdens. When I arrive at the peak, I know I can finally, truly, smile and look back at my memories with fondness and no trace of regret.
Lord, feed my soul and heal my heart. Hold me, fix me, and nurture me ever so gently. Amen.
The Word of God
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
Psalm 34:18 NRSVUE
You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your record?
Psalm 56:8 NRSVUE
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
Psalm 147:3 NRSVUE
Intercessory prayer to Saint Mary Magdalene
Saint Mary Magdalene, your life was touched with heartbreak when our Savior died selflessly on the cross. You shed tears and let your grief overflow from your heart but remained strong despite the tragedy. I call upon you to hear my prayers for healing and growth and help me ask for peace, comfort and hope from the Lord. Help me banish my pain so that when I have fully healed, I will look back with a smile on my face because somehow, despite the pain, there is goodness in how I have loved, true and pure.
Saint Mary Magdalene, hear me and help me. Please pray for me.
Amen.
Further reflection
There are times in our lives that are filled with sorrow to the point where it has completely changed the way we see life and even the way we feel ourselves. Heartbreak can be different for everyone; it can cause grief, depression, sadness, loneliness, anger, envy, and even self-blaming. Ending a relationship with someone can be traumatic and difficult, especially for the first few weeks or months. Although completely burying the memories you share may not always be possible, letting go of self-destructive feelings is attainable.
It’s true that heartbreak is painful, and this pain comes in different forms. Some might even say that love is painful. Remember that God’s love is limitless and endless, He has made great sacrifices out of His love for each of us. Thank Him for the love you experienced, for the love you feel, and for the people who love and have loved you. Remember to thank Him for the people who comfort you in times of heartbreak, for the people who quietly let you shed your tears but are still waiting around to see if you’re alright. Through these people, you see and feel His presence. Even during the brief sweetness of past relationships, you see His love in the eyes of your beloved. There is a quote in Les Miserables that aptly describes it: ‘to love another person is to see the face of God’.
Your journey to growth and healing starts with acceptance of what has happened and how it is making you feel. It’s important to consult the Lord and ask Him for peace of mind and heart as you start a new journey of mending what is damaged. Ask Him for comfort, for assurance, and for growth so you can move on from the experience. In time, you’ll be able to look back on your experiences fondly, and you will no longer be plagued by the grief that heartbreak once struck you with. One day, your heart will be fully healed and glowing, and it will love once more.
