I know that all of us have had those moments when something or someone hurt us so bad that it almost took our breath away and we may have found ourselves at the point whereby we could not even muster up the words to pray. Ever found yourself in that place? It may have been following the death of a loved one or an unexpected diagnosis. It could have been a relationship that suddenly or even over a period of time began to go badly. It could have been an inevitable divorce or emotional or physical abuse. My point is that all of us will experience pain and sometimes compounded pain in our lifetime. No matter what we do to try to avoid it or to keep those whom we love from experiencing it…all of us will experience pain or heart ache or heart break at some time in our lives. What comes to my mind as I am writing this is “betrayal”.
I think that a good definition of betrayal is something that I read many years ago, “When Trust is Broken”. I see betrayal as a hammer that comes along and shatters trust to pieces making it almost impossible to put back together. It would take a miracle to put it back together. Because once you have been betrayed it is so hard to trust again.
When you trust someone, it is a process of being almost seduced into believing that they will stand with you and support you no matter what. But sad to say that is not always the case. People in general do not usually intentionally set out to gain your trust only to betray you. When you trust them, you decide to rely upon their transparency, character, ability to stand with you, that their intentions are noble and that they will stay consistent. Your expectations may prove to be higher than what they are able to give and when they do not meet your expectations you may feel like they have betrayed you whether intentional or not. On the other hand, they may have intentionally betrayed you and that is extremely painful.
Bottom line is that people are people and they are not perfect. And just because we have been betrayed does not mean that we should never trust anyone ever again. What it does mean is that we learn to forgive and forgive quickly and ask the Lord for help in learning to trust again. Life is too short to walk around fearful of every relationship. May God grant us discernment and wisdom so that we can love with His heart, pray for those who betray us, and move on so that we can trust again.
