When Love Feels Hard

Scripture:
“I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
— Ezekiel 36:26

There are seasons when loving others comes easily.

And then there are seasons when it feels like our patience is thin, our reactions are sharper than we want, and our capacity to show love seems smaller than it should be.

We know what we want to offer:
gentleness, understanding, compassion, connection.

But what actually comes out is often:

• frustration

• withdrawal

• irritation

• shutting down

And then the guilt settles in.

“I should be better than this.
Why can’t I love the way I know I’m supposed to?”

Ezekiel 36 gives us a different perspective.

God never asked us to transform our own hearts.

God Says: “I Will”

In this passage, God speaks again and again:

“I will gather you.”
“I will cleanse you.”
“I will remove the heart of stone.”
“I will give you a heart of flesh.”
“I will put My Spirit in you.”

This is not a list of demands.

It is a list of promises.

God takes responsibility for the transformation we long for.

A Heart of Stone

A “heart of stone” is not always coldness or lack of care.

Sometimes it looks like:

• exhaustion

• overwhelm

• emotional shutdown

• self-protection

• feeling disconnected

• running out of capacity

Most of us don’t stop loving.
We simply reach the end of what we can give on our own.

God sees that.

The Promise of a New Heart

Ezekiel reminds us that God’s response is not:

“Try harder.”

His response is:

“I will soften your heart.”

He gently creates space in us where:

• compassion can grow

• patience can return

• tenderness can flow

• connection can be rebuilt

Not through pressure, but through His Spirit at work in us.

What Does “Yoking Up” Look Like Here?

It does not mean pretending everything is fine
or forcing emotions we do not feel.

Yoking up means:

• pausing for a moment

• acknowledging our limits

• asking Jesus to share the weight

• allowing God to work in our hearts

It is a simple prayer:

“Jesus, make room in me for Your love.”

That one sentence opens the door for transformation.

Practice for Today

When you feel yourself pulling away or reacting more than you want to, pause and pray:

“Jesus, make room in me for Your love.”

Then trust that He is doing the work He promised.

Prayer

God, You see the places in me that feel tired or guarded.
I want to love well, but I cannot do it on my own.
Remove whatever has hardened in me.
Give me a heart that reflects Yours.
Make room in me for Your love to flow through.
Do in me what I cannot do myself.
Amen.

Key Thought

We do not love like Jesus by trying harder.
We love like Jesus by yoking up and letting Him transform us.