This life can be incredibly stressful. Often times, we don't know what to do about it. So we don't do anything. We throw on a smile, stand up straight, and push all of the hurt and anger and sorrow down until we can't feel it anymore.
The problem is that this doesn't make it go away. The pain simply builds up until we can't stuff it down anymore. This is usually the point where we come home, close the door, and fall on the floor in tears asking, "Why? Why? Why?"
At that moment, when we are at our weakest, God is at His strongest. When we have fallen apart, that is when He works in us, gently navigating the broken pieces of our hearts, picking them up one by one and carefully weaving His love into each shattered fragment and piecing them back together in the way that He desires.
When we try to hold ourselves together and pretend like nothing is wrong, we are relying on our own strength because we think it's enough. When we reach our breaking point and admit how weak we truly are, that humility opens the door for God to fill us with His strength and peace. He can mold us into the person He wants us to be. God doesn't scold us for being broken; He holds us with compassion and love until we are whole again. Brokenness is a blessing, for it is then that we are closest to God and most open to feeling His presence.
EDIT: last night after I finished writing this post, I was listening to Pandora and this song came on. It's called "The Upside of Down" by Chris August, and I thought I would put a link here because it perfectly describes the topic of this post.