Field guide · Crossings
Us with Godand Broken Relationships
Forecast: heavy and unsettled, with sudden storms of memory and shelter close by.
Four tired ways to walk
Each has some truth in it. None of them is the whole story.
Under GodSheep that hide from the Shepherd
God must be punishing me, or I’m too broken now for him to love.
Over GodSheep that know the way
If I can just figure out what went wrong, I can fix it or make sure it never happens again.
From GodSheep that follow the grass
God was supposed to give me a happy life, and he let this fall apart.
For GodSheep trying to be the sheepdog
I failed at the relationship God gave me, so what use am I to him now?
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.
Whatever happened, and however it happened, God doesn’t stand at a distance from the wreckage. He “is close to the brokenhearted” (Ps 34:18), and he “heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (Ps 147:3). To his people when they felt deserted and alone, he said, “Your Maker is your husband” (Isa 54:5). You don’t have to make sense of it all today. You only have to let him come close.
Where the Shepherd isHe knows what it is to be left. On the night he needed his friends most, “everyone deserted him and fled” (Mark 14:50).
Let one safe person know how you’re really doing this week. If you are not safe at home, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233.
Lord, come close. I don’t know what to do with this hurt.
Fellow travelers
People in Scripture who walked this ground before us.
- Leah lived in a home where she was not loved, and the Lord saw her (Gen 29:31–35).
- Hagar ran into the desert from a home that had turned against her, and there she met “the God who sees me” (Gen 16:13).
Keep walking
- With God: Sheep that know his voicethe posture every entry points to
- Which Way Are You Walking?a short self-check
- The Field Guideevery entry, by terrain, weather and crossing