Breaking Point

breaking point |ˈbrākiNG ˌpoint| nounthe moment of greatest strain at which someone or something gives way:A piece of steel can endure a great deal of stress but too much stress on the same piece for too long can result in failure in the metal and possibly the entire structure itself. The same thing is true of a piece of lumber, a tree, a house, and even people. 
Too much strain on a bone or joint can result in injury. I broke both my arms at different times when a kid. Both can as result of traumatic falls where my arm hit first. Brenda, Tucker, and Turner have all torn ACL ligaments in their knees. The call came from playing some sport. Our bodies can only endure so much before the they hit the breaking point. 
I am thinking  of another kind of breaking point. When a person endures so much stress in life they nit a breaking point emotionally. Life overwhelms. I think of the leper approaching Jesus in Matthew 8. The pain of his disease and being outcast drove him to Jesus for help. There is the demoniac, woman with the issue of blood, and the father of a sick and dying little girl in Mark 5. Each a broken and hurting who went to Jesus for help when they hit a breaking point. They all want to Jesus. Je helped each of them. 
It is easy to turn in the wrong directions to find relief. Some do it through sex and alcohol. The afore mentioned people all turned to Jesus. This is where this blog gets tricky. It would be easy to tell people who have hit the breaking point, "Just turn to Jesus. Turn all your troubles over to Him and you will be helped and delivered. All your troubles will go away." I know sometimes there are no easy answers. 
I have known many Christian people who reached the breaking point. They prayed. They studied scripture. They worshipped. They did all the tings they were supposed to do but the strain finally got to them. They hit a breaking point. The cliches did not work. What counsel would you give such people. Pray more. Study more. Trust more. Worship more. Give more money. Some did all these things and still the breaking point came and persisted. They are tempted to believe God abandoned them. That God does not care. 
I hit a breaking point several years ago. I mean I crumbled under the strain of several things hitting all at one time. It is by far the darkest period in my fifty years. I prayed hours and hours. I read through the Bible twice that year. I read other books I thought  that would help. I listened to sermons. I preached and studied my heart out. I still hit the breaking point. Nothing brought me out. Not more prayer, more study, more worship.. 
Don't get me wrong. God used those times to sustain me. He gave me what I needed to get through another day and may times to get through another sermon when I felt so empty on the inside. I preached to myself primarily in those days desperately grasping for hope. Everything I believe was challenged and tested. I felt alone. I seldom told the truth to others about what I was going through. I did not want to burden the ones I loved and others I did not trust. I hid behind a facade wall I kept up before people.I pretended a lot like I was doing fine. On the inside I was crumbling.  I did not want to be vulnerable and I did not trust people enough to tell them I needed help. It was a breaking point. I was broken. I went through the long dark night of the soul. 
I went on a prayer retreat. That had worked in the past. I went up in the mountains of NM and spent my days praying, and reading scripture for hours on end. A friend went with me but we stayed to ourselves except for meals. 
One day we drove up on a mountain and then hiked up to the top. I stood alone there crying out for God to speak to me, to deliver me, to help me. My mind and soul were so dark I contemplated leaving the ministry. Down below I saw a heard of deer running across a meadow. I saw the sun setting and felt the air chilling. I sat down pleading with God to breakthrough. He did not. Dark fell and we drove back to our cabin. I had not encountered God there. I left the top of that mountain more depressed. 
My plans changed on the way home. Some friends asked me to stay over with them That decision changed my life. Sitting on their back porch alone God spoke to me. I had one of the most profound encounters with Him I have ever experienced. All based on one little verse. John 5:17. One encounter with God brought the long awaited breakthrough after a couple of years of cratering under the stress. Even though God broke through the darkness in my heart and mind none of my circumsatnaces got better. They got worse. Much worse. 
Everybody has a breaking point. We need to talk to Jesus.  He does help. He is able. Sometimes He chooses to use other people to help us shoulder the load. We need community. We need trusted confidants. We need people who love us no matter what we are going through. We need true friends who will be there when we reach the breaking point. 
Some of the greatest gifts and blessings in my life are people. I have an inner circle. They know who they are. When I am not in the pulpit, when I go out in public, when I feel weak and vulnerable, when I'm discouraged and my faith is fragile I go to these trusted few. They pray for me. They love me. They listen. They counsel. They are there. I don't have to fake it around them. While none of them can restore me they are there and lift me in prayer to the only One who truly restores, heals, and lifts the burdens. My inner circle listen but they all point me to Jesus. They speak truth. Sometimes very hard truth. They do not surgar coat things. I need that. They also know when to just listen without trying to have all the answers. God uses them. I hope you have a trusted inner circle like that. 
We all hit breaking points. We all need community. Today, I am thankful for Jesus who mends what is broken and for the people in my life who journey with me. With those gifts I am brought safely through breaking points.