How to Experience God’s Heart Even When Yours is Broken

Beloved Bible teacher Linda Dillow, whose words and books have long mentored and discipled me, knows the weight of pain, loss, and broken dreams. As she walked through the most devastating season of her over eighty years of life, Linda did the only thing she could: she poured out her sadness, anger, and confusion to God. But she didn’t do it alone. She leaned on a battle-ready group of friends who helped her experience God’s peace even when hope seemed elusive. Her new book, Hope for My Hurting Heart: Eight Heart Skills to Help You Cling to God and Not Give Up, helps us discover how to move from hopelessness to hope. It’s an absolute joy and delight to welcome Linda to the farm’s front porch as she paints a picture of the body of Christ for us. 

Guest Post by Linda Dillow

It’s Wednesday morning. Six women, each facing painful situations in her life, sit around a wooden table with open Bibles and notepads before them.

They have come to seek God and to pour agapē love over one another. 

I am a member of this group. We call ourselves the Adoration Gals. 

Two women are therapists. One is a biblical counselor. Lorraine (my soul sister) and I are writers. And then there’s wise Valerie, who has a painful yet powerful story of endurance.

We do not come to chitchat about the weather.

We are God chasers who are determined to experience God’s presence.

Brother Lawrence showed us how to practice the presence of God in his book by that name, but he was a monk!

We Adoration Gals wanted to know how to do this as busy, scattered women in the twenty-first century. 

One woman has a beloved daughter with mental-health issues who threatens suicide weekly. Another woman just went through a painful divorce because her husband of four decades found someone he liked better. Most of us have a life-threatening health issue or have a loved one who does. We range in age from forty-seven to eighty-two (I am the oldest). 

As a group, how do we deal with our pain?

“..we are not satisfied with merely knowing about God. We want to experience Him. To encounter Him.“

We study God’s Word. We pray, love, and encourage one another. We run to God. But we are not satisfied with merely knowing about God. We want to experience Him. To encounter Him. We believe in God’s love, but we also want to receive His love. 

We’ve read several books about receiving God’s love because being filled first with His love is what enables us to go through hard times with grace and hokmah wisdom. We’ve learned that when we bring our pain before God and are honest with Him, we open ourselves up to receiving His love in a deeper way. Here are some of the ways the Adoration Gals experience God’s love.

Valerie: Light 

God often soaks me with love through light. He daily gets my attention as light appears in a thousand glorious forms. Sometimes it’s the way the morning sunrise dances on a single blade of grass. Or a chorus of sunrays that crescendos through a grove of trees. In these moments, God whispers gently, I know you are hurting, child. But I am here. I am the Light of the World. Take My hand, and follow Me. 

Dar: Meditation and the Word 

I receive God’s love each morning as I quiet my spirit, close my eyes and gaze upon the One who is love and sweetness itself. I hear Him say, I love to be with you, My beloved! My favorite book, Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts by Jerry Bridges, reveals how He loves me through my pain. 

Elena: Emotions 

“I know you are hurting, child. But I am here. I am the Light of the World. Take My hand, and follow Me. “

For years, I’ve deeply studied God’s Word. I use my mind a lot, so I love it when I receive God’s love through deep emotion. I take a walk, breathe in the fresh air, listen to worship music, talk to God, and then enjoy a really good cry. God loves me deeply in those moments. 

Lorraine: Solitude and Surrender 

I receive God’s love in solitude. First, I create outer solitude by shutting my office door. The click of the latch is my signal to mentally detach from the outer world. Then I find inner solitude—I lay face down, spread eagle, on my furry, white rug and whisper, “Abba Father, I need You. Fill me with Your love. Cleanse my motives and direct my steps for this day.” 

Diane: Worship 

I go to God like a little child, feeling a bit unworthy. As I listen to worship songs about His greatness and majesty, I refocus my scattered senses upon my Father. The music pulls me to a heavenly place. I’m fully there but also fully here. I’m learning to worship in my pain, and it is a beautiful thing. He loves me when I’m laughing or weeping. 

Do I hear you perhaps whispering, “I want to join the Adoration Gals”?

Yes, we are a special group who love God and each other. These special friends have upheld me in the midst of my pain and helped me keep my eyes on who God is. During my years of loss, time on my knees before my Abba became my place of refuge. 

Where I could be quiet when my head, heart, and world were racing? 

“We have substituted theological ideas for an arresting encounter; we are full of religious notions, but our great weakness is that for our hearts there is no one there. -A.W. Tozer“

Where I could weep and my soul could be understood?

Where I could receive God’s love but at the same time ask, God, will I ever feel delight again?  

Being immersed in God’s divine love transforms a person.

It’s not enough to just say we are Christians or that we believe in Jesus. Only the experience of God’s love is transformational. Sadly, many have missed this.

One of my favorite authors, A. W. Tozer, in his book, The Divine Conquest, says that “most of us who call ourselves Christians” do so on the basis of belief rather than experience: “We have substituted theological ideas for an arresting encounter; we are full of religious notions, but our great weakness is that for our hearts there is no one there.”

I’m so glad someone is there. There is a God who longs to love us in our times of pain, who is as close as our next thought, and whom we can know intimately.

This is what I long for you during your time of loss or shattered dreams—for you to truly know His deep love for you.

Linda Dillow is a best-selling author and a respected Bible teacher and conference speaker. Her books include Hope for My Hurting Heart, Calm My Anxious Heart,  and Satisfy My Thirsty Soul. Linda is the mother of four children, and grandmother of ten. She and her husband, Jody, lived overseas for 17 years and now make their home in Colorado Springs Colorado.

In Hope for My Hurting Heart, Linda Dillow offers practical wisdom, real-life stories, and biblical teachings to help you navigate pain and loss and find hope and healing through God’s love. Learn what it looks like to experience God’s presence in the midst of pain. A practical heart skill is included in each chapter.

Want to start your own Adoration Girls group? Use the eight-week Bible study as a guide for your gathering. Or use the study to help you grow in your own spiritual journey. 

{Our humble thanks to NavPress for their partnership in today’s devotional.}