I work with college students, so I work often with broken hearts:  girls who are certain that this guy was the one and now they will never be happy again; nice guys who only meet 8 of a girl’s list of 10 essential husband qualities, girls afraid of broken hearts who won’t ever say “Yes” to a cup of coffee.  My own heart has been broken a time or two in various times and in sundry ways.  After the season with the many tissues is over, what’s a person to do?

You could check a previous post with some practical suggestions for living a faithful single life.

You could listen to/read this encouraging sermon from John Piper.

Or, you can read.  Learning is appropriate in every scenario, right?  Even if reading cannot mend a broken heart, it can inform and challenge and comfort.  So–here are a few of my suggestions.  And I promise you, none of the books below has a flower or a stiletto heel on the cover!

Redeeming Singleness by Danylak.  This text has done much to inform my Biblical understanding of the single life, from Genesis to Revelation.  It is worth the money for the chapter on spiritual gifts alone!

Loves Me, Love‘s Me Not:  The Ethics of Unrequited Love by Smit.  I stumbled on this book in a university bookstore, but have quoted from it more than any other I have read.  This text is fascinating, borrowing from extensive interviews with singles and from literature.  Fascinating reminder that sometimes, heartache reminds us that we were made for something more than what we long for in the here and now.

Daniel, by Daniel.  The prophet Daniel is one of the most incredible examples of the proper attitudes and actions of the person who’s life didn’t go exactly as he had hoped.  right?  Why do you suppose Daniel’s supervisor was the captain of the eunuchs?  Yeah, that’s what the rabbis think, too.   Anyway, he was probably single.

Books on Friendship:  Friendship is where most good relationships start.  I am NOT of the opinion that men and women cannot be friends.  Maybe more on this at another time, but for now, here are some great resources to think about how you are a friend.

How Should We Develop Biblical Friendship by Beek and Haykin.

Relationships:  A Mess Worth Making by Lane and Tripp

The Company We Keep:  In search of Biblical Friendship by Holmes.

Listening and reading won’t mend a broken heart, but both can remind that heart that there is a God who loves and delights in His children.  And that’s the best place to be.