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So you trusted yet again, only to get burned.  Who hasn’t?  Welcome to the real world. You can be sure your trust will be betrayed or taken advantaged of probably many times over in the course of your lifetime. I know this is a reality none of us want to hear.  But it’s true.  The only way to avoid being burned, is to avoid ever being in relationship with another human being as long as you live.

That’s the bad news. But, there is some good news…and here it is:

We recover.  But only if we choose to.  You can close your heart so tight to keep bad people out, but you would be keeping the good people out, too.  And THAT’S no way to live!  We were created to love, and be loved.  We have an innate desire to live life to the fullest which can’t be done if we choose to close ourselves off to everything, and everyone.

Here’s even more good news: God knows when you’ve been betrayed.  He knows you’ve hurt as a result of betrayal, and how unfair it feels.  And we can be sure that He does care about that.  He is the healer of our broken hearts.  Of any rejection we sustain.  Of any trickery, slander, cheating, lying, malice, gossip, manipulation, and mistreatment we may incur living our lives this side of heaven.

To close ourselves off from everyone in an attempt to self-protect, is to not trust that God is in control of who and what happens to us!  Either you believe He is, or He is not.  It’s really that simple.

But if He is,  He heals.  We recover.  We go on living.  And we risk loving and opening ourselves up again.  And we reject the trap of isolation.  When our hearts are open, not only do we get to give of ourselves; but healing comes to us as we receive from others.

Yes, we’ve been burned.  We will be burned again.  But we will rise from the ashes, quite possibly wiser, stronger and more resilient.

I’ll close with this: One day, I was driving on a highway here in my hometown when I noticed a big patch of burned grass along the side of the road. [see pics above]  Clearly a smoker must have thrown a lit cigarette out of the car as they drove by.  The grass was dry, and the tiniest spark took off and became a fast spreading grass fire.

I passed by that same stretch just 3 weeks later.  And to my surprise (and delight) new grass was growing up through the burned patch of land!  I was so amazed I pulled off to the side of the road just to take a picture.

God spoke to me through that.  He showed me that, yes, I have been burned in the past.  And, yes, I risk being burned again.  But new life grows back!  Why?  Because God is the Creator of all things new!  AND because He loves me!

We can trust Him to bring healing, redemption, and restoration when we’ve been hurt. Thankfully, because God heals, we recover and can experience new life.

Love ❤️  -Cindy Magsig

“He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.”  -‭‭Psalms‬ ‭147:3‬  (‭NLT‬‬)

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; He rescues those whose spirits are crushed.” Psalms‬ ‭34:18‬ ‭(NLT‬‬)

“When I’m holding on to grudges, my hands can’t catch the blessings God wants to send my way.”   -Terry Powell (Twitter)

“The place of your pain will become the place of your power.”  -Finn Brokamp  (Twitter)