Just a little confession: I am in no way an expert at this. I have loved and I have lost and I have spent months and years in an emotional limbo, hopelessly stuck in a place I don’t even think I want to move on from because it’s the only place I can still find him.

But maybe that’s exactly why I have to speak to you about it. Because, my dear, it’s 2017 and my heart breaks just watching you bringing the pain and confusion into the new year. Just when you thought you can begin anew, you found yourself in the same cycle again.

It’s ironic when you know that breaking up was what’s best and the relationship was already doing more harm than good, and yet here you are still at the same place you began.

It’s a tug-of-war, you see. Your hands grasp so tightly to the rope, fighting to hold on and at the same time fighting to let go. You push and you pull and you always end up finding yourself bleeding and calloused and oh so tired.

And you know what, it’s okay. It’s okay that it’s hard. It’s okay that it hurts. The pain is valid. It’s normal. We all need to go through our own journeys, with our own processes. Please go at your pace for wounds take time to heal. Two steps forward, one step back, it’s fine. As long as you keep moving.

But if you’re honest to yourself and you know that you’re not even going anywhere and you’re just stuck there, then let me be honest here too. The battle isn’t really between you and him. The battle is between you and yourself.

You have to actually want to get over it, sweetie. From deep within you, you have to decide to. It’s impossible to help someone who doesn’t want to be helped. It’s you who gets to make the decision to stop replying. You make the decision to take captive every thought and stop imagining the 1,000 ways the two of you can reconcile and get back together in the far off future. Most importantly, you get to choose whose hand you’re going to hold: his or His.

This isn’t about actively getting yourself into church activities or finding laughter when you’re out for fellowship. Those can help, and they’re good, but they’re not the answer.

He is.

I don’t want to make it sound easy because it’s not. It’s actually incredibly difficult. However, it’s also rather simple. I’m not saying that the moment you choose God, all your feelings will miraculously go away. It doesn’t work that way. But beloved, He works.He will work through your emotions and He will work through your situation and you will see Him working this heartbreak for your good.

It’s terrifying letting go of what you’re so used to. Some days, you just miss having someone to love you. Some days, you wonder whether you’ll find a relationship that great again. Some days, you get frightened once you realize that all your plans that always included him are now scrap. But then, that’s a wonderful place to start again.

Endings make for good beginnings. 

I beg you, close the door. You need to. Losing him might mean finally finding yourself – and much, much more. Don’t chain yourself to the past and miss out on embracing all the future holds.

The world is waiting for you to fully step into who you are. You were not created to retreat. 

There’s a million opportunities ahead of you, an endless array of open doors and chances, so stop holding yourself back. Stop holding on to a guy you always believed would die for you when there’s One who already did. This Guy, He’s not just a band-aid for your broken heart, He’ll take all the broken pieces and put them back together. You shouldn’t treat Him as a soothing balm when He is the cure. 

You may have thought love meant grasping, but now there’s a love Who would hold on to you. And this Love, just a little tidbit, His hands bled for you too.

Palms closed tight keep the shadows in. We capture the light with open hands.

Breathe in. Breathe deep. Exhale.

No matter how long it takes, no matter how difficult it is, no matter how stuck you feel sometimes, no matter how many times you have to decide over and over again.

Slowly, fingers uncurling, relinquish. Let go.

Not because he found someone else, not because you want to find someone else, but because now, you are found.

 

Welcome the new.