Cinderella labored and labored for those she loved and cared for. What happened? She was betrayed and left locked up all alone.
I think there are many of us reading this that have felt the same way. Betrayed by those we thought were in our corner. This list could include friends, relatives, and even our own church families.
Betrayal, however, I have learned, is a cross of those in Christ Jesus, just as caring for others who are thankless. Jesus’s life on earth provided us examples of both.
However, there is still no denial that there is no hurt like the betrayal of a friend – someone you loved or completely trusted. I have seen the devastation of unfaithful spouses and I have personally felt the pain of being stabbed in the back by someone I thought was a trusted friend. It is one thing to be deceived by an enemy; it is another thing to be wounded by a friend.
We can usually handle rejection by someone that hates us, but to be betrayed by someone we thought loved us is totally different. It can destroy our self-esteem, our ability to trust other people, and our willingness to allow ourselves to engage in any kind of close personal relationship. Many of us, unfortunately, have carried this painful cross.
Understandably, there is simply no greater human heartache in life than when someone you love, trust, and have opened yourself up to takes your love and then sucks the air right out of you either by rejection or deception. Or when someone goes from having your back to sticking a knife in it. In these situations, the worst thing we can do is to harbor our hurt because harbored hurt becomes bitterness. And bitterness is not a personality trait of a beautiful Cinderella.
So, ladies, don’t ever think you are alone or have no one to talk to. We can always talk to God. We can think nobody will understand, but God always understands.
For example:
I had a young woman who was helping me around my home named Alison. It is an understatement to say that she has had a hard life and been betrayed by those she loved.
One week, like many others she has spent her time cleaning and caring and diligently working to provide for those she loves.
However, some days her spirit was broken. I would find myself with her in the kitchen as tears slowly ran down her pretty cheeks. “I want to know why my life is always a cycle of pain and betrayal? Why do I always find myself repeating the same story? I want to know who I am in Christ because I don’t know who I am in this world anymore? Sometimes I wonder if God even knows who I am? I just need a break!”
I would sit listening to her and could not help but think how broken and shattered people are drawn to one another. I truly believe that God puts us together because the shards of our broken stories end up building a masterpiece that represents Him on earth. The broken and betrayed come together as He was broken and betrayed for us.
Our pieces though sharp and scattered somehow always lead back to Him and after the edges become smooth and adhered together in a way the world can no longer take apart.
Just like the Psalmist who cried,
“Out of my deep anguish and pain I prayed, and God, you helped me as a Father. You came to my rescue and broke open the way into a beautiful and broad place.
Psalm 118:5
Have you been betrayed?
I want to understand as I explained to Alison, that God understands betrayal and pain because it happened to Him more than once. But out of those experiences came a Savior, a Rescuer, and a Ruler who died on a cross and came back from the grave. So, don’t ever doubt that He can take any Cinderella story and turn it back into one that is a queen for the Kingdom of God. Amen
“If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were rising against me, I could hide. But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship at the house of God, as we walked about among the worshipers.” Psalm 55:12-14
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Holy Beautiful Life
Featured Image by Felicity Lynn on Unsplash
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