Broken heart sewn back together (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Take a deep breath everyone. I am sharing this because it matters to each of us. I watched the Dr. Oz show last April 25 where the question was asked: can someone die from a broken heart? And the answer is, “Yes”. Apparently with a rapid heart rate from undo excitement or trauma, the tiny vessels began to shut down and this causes the heart to swell in it’s attempt to find more oxygen. Without improvements, the heart stops beating. We might call it a heart attack, but in reality, it is a broken heart. Women over the age of 50 are particularly vulnerable. I am one of those. To get correct information, please go to Dr. Oz and try to get the program to play.
I am reminded of Jesus. He was a young man in His early thirties just beginning His work for His HeavenlyFather. He gathered men from the area who were willing to leave their employment and family and follow Him in His fledgling ministry. Though He was always being spied on and did not have a place to lay his head, He never let these things detour Him from the mission His Father had called Him to do. It must have been really special to have Lazarus, Mary and Martha as good friends. In their home, He could relax in shared love and freely talk about God without suspicious spies lurking behind every tree and rock.
By the time He was ready for Calvary , He knew there would be no turning back. Passover was upon the city and all the country folk were making their pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The streets would soon be teeming with Jews celebrating the Passover. The mock trial, the denial by Peter ~ one of His own, and being weighted down with the sins of the whole planet had to have been agony for our Savior. I wonder if He felt the wind being sucked out of His lungs? It would break anyone in like circumstances, but this was the Son of God! He must face the end without help from His Dad. His closest disciples couldn’t keep their eyes open when He asked them to cover Him with prayer. He faced the enemy all alone. The devil worked the crowd into a frothing, gnashing frenzy. They clamored for His death . . . defiantly demanded His death. Was it not best that one die for all? Lusting for His blood, they shouted, “Crusify Him! Crucify him! Let His blood be on us and our children.” Matthew 27:25
Great drops of bloody sweat soaked Him from every pore and dripped on the ground. He had never given in to temptation. He had never felt the weight of sin and evil we have gotten used to, and now all the sins of the whole world pressed His body to the rock where He was praying, “Father, if it be possible . . . but if not, I will do it.” The devil was right there. You know he had to be. His future depended on this outcome, so he must have been telling Jesus to go back home to heaven. “They’re not worth the trouble. Why bother with these dimwits? Start over and create a whole new world of people.” Jesus struggled, begged, fell to the ground weak with the weight of the world crushing Him like a grape. He suffered alone. He later died alone. And when a soldier thrust a spear in His side, out came blood and fluid. He had died from a broken heart.
If you are concerned about keeping your heart healthy, good. We all should be armed with the tools to stay alive! But many of us live with broken hearts. They may be newly broken or broken from a tragedy of long ago. Time can feel like it stands still after we are awash in grief and loss. But we share with others our journey and learn from each other; giving and getting support. This is the best time to include Jesus in our journey, for no one is more prepared to help us in our suffering than He. And no one else loved us so much that He took His assignment to the Cross and with His arms outstretched, as if to hug the entire world, He found the strength to say, “It is finished!” Then he bowed His head and died. John 19:30
The Good News is we’ve read the back of the Book and we win! Jesus’ death sounded the death knell for satan. And His resurrection signaled that our debt of sin was canceled and eternity is offered free of charge to anyone who chooses to accept it.
For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten ([a]unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life. John 3:16, AMP
Hope after Suicide 