Sometimes the year that felt like an ending was actually the year your life began moving toward something more honest, more aligned, and more beautiful than you could have imagined at the time.

Heaven’s Perspective

On the year that broke your heart

We see the version of you that emerged from that year.

– Jacqueline Whitney

From up here, that year looks different than it does from where you’re standing. From where you are, it looks like the year everything fell apart.

The year you lost what you thought you’d keep. The year the plan collapsed. The year you found out who people really were. The year you cried more than you thought you could.

From up here, we see something else.

We see the year everything that wasn’t built to last finally stopped pretending it was. We see the year you were protected from a future that looked good on the surface but would’ve cost you everything underneath.

We see the year the ground was cleared, the weight was lifted, and the real story began.

We see the version of you that emerged from that year. Softer in some places. Stronger in others. More honest about what you need. Less willing to abandon yourself to keep the peace. More certain of who you are than you’d ever been before.

From up here, that year didn’t break you. It broke what was covering you.

And what was underneath was someone we’d been waiting for you to meet.

The year that broke your heart was the year your real life began. You just couldn’t see it yet.

Jacqueline Whitney is the author Held: A 50 Day Devotional For Parents and All That You Deserve.