Revisiting Broken

Shortly before I got married, a song called Broken Road came out.  I immediately fell in love with it.  If you're not familiar with the song by Rascal Flatts, it says:

I set out on a narrow way many years ago
Hoping I would find true love along the broken road
But I got lost a time or two
Wiped my brow and kept pushing through
I couldn't see how every sign pointed straight to you
Every long lost dream led me to where you are
Others who broke my heart they were like Northern stars
Pointing me on my way into your loving arms
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you

I remember how true that rang the day I married Bray.  I knew abandonment, betrayal, and brokenness along the way, but had I not had those encounters, those relationships, those losses, I don't know that I would have found Bray.  God used the heartache to show me what was important in a relationship - what was true and worthwhile. 

I wrote recently that December was a tough month for us.  Well, it must have been a tough month for a number of folks because I've started receiving news about separations and divorces.  Some were pretty surprising.  You wouldn't have known it was coming by looking.  And some splits occurred because the spouse leaving the marriage was revisiting the broken road.  Imagining something from the past was better than it ever was. 

Marriage is hard, and the world around us encourages us to revisit broken.  It's easy to forget how broken the road was that led you to your husband or wife.  You start losing sight in your rear view mirror of the broken heart left in the wake of former relationships.  I've seen how those past relationships get retold in people's memories.  They get all dolled up with the nasty stuff taken out.  They become misty water colored memories of the way we were.   

If you're revisiting broken today, stop.  It's broken.  That's why it ended.  And God healed you from that brokenness to bring you to your spouse (or if He hasn't, He can if you'll let Him).  It's so easy to glamorize days gone by.  But they have gone by.  Too many long lingering looks back will destroy your future.  It's never too late to face forward, put the broken road behind you, and recommit yourself to the road ahead with the one you vowed to journey through life with - for better or worse.

Walk With Him Wednesdays - A Holy Experience