> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://thepulse.org/en/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Devotional “When Trust Breaks, and Heals Again” - URL: https://thepulse.org/en/when-trust-breaks-and-heals-again/ - Published: 2025-04-05T14:45:53.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-22T09:18:27.000Z - Description: Trust is like a bridge. It is built step by step and can collapse in a moment. But what if there were a bridge that never collapses? A deep devotional about lies, hurt, forgiveness, and Jesus, who remains faithful. - Author: Esther Penner - Tags: Lessons, #age-teens, #topic-relationships, #lessons-bible-topic, #lessons-duration-medium, #lessons-method-object, #lessons-setting-plenary, #lessons-setting-small-group, #target-educators, #target-leaders, #context-youth-night, #context-small-group 🧰 ****Materials:** 7 large wooden blocks or bricks, 1 long sturdy board, 1 basket, 1 large cross, 1 Jenga block and 1 pen for each participant 👉 ****Before you start, build a bridge out of large wooden blocks or bricks so that at least 5 of them stand in a row with wider gaps, visible to everyone. These are your bridge pillars. You also need a sturdy board that spans the whole length of the bridge and can carry your weight without any pillars in between.** ## Story ⏱ 3 minutes They had met at an event against human trafficking. Back then they were still students, young, full of ideas, full of dreams. Rico was immediately fascinated by Leon, not because he was loud, but because he was steadfast. Leon had convictions that were rooted deep inside him. While others changed their opinion when the headwind got too strong, Leon held his line. He stood up for justice, spoke out against corruption, fought for people who had no voice. It didn’t take long for them to become best friends. While others held back, Leon went straight to where it hurt. He stood up against the powerful, against the big corporations that traded in people, against the politicians who looked away. He was at protests, he talked on TV shows. But that wasn’t all. When he wasn’t working on his projects, he was wherever nobody wanted to be. He sat on the street with the homeless, ate with refugees in shelters, talked with teenagers everyone had written off as “problem cases.” He treated them with dignity, as if they were just as valuable as everyone else. Year after year his influence grew. People celebrated him, not only because he did good, but because he was real. He wasn’t the type who worked for likes; he lived what he talked about. And that was exactly what made him dangerous. The bigger his reach grew, the more enemies gathered. Politicians afraid of losing voters. Business owners whose business models he criticized. People who thought he was naive. “That’s not how the world works, Leon,” they said. But Leon wouldn’t be stopped. Until the day everything flipped. It came out of nowhere. Suddenly a video was circulating. An anonymous tip. The accusation: Leon had done something wrong. Nobody knew exactly what had really happened, but that didn’t matter. The rumors exploded. X, Instagram, TikTok: debates everywhere, hate everywhere. Hashtags like #LeonLies and #NotMyHero were trending. Rico couldn’t believe it. “That can’t be,” he told himself. “I know Leon. I know his heart.” But doubt gnawed at him. What if it was true after all? The news kept coming. Companies that had celebrated him before distanced themselves. Politicians demanded consequences. Leon had read the headlines. He had seen the comments. He knew how quickly people could turn away. And then the day came: Leon had to appear in court. Rico sat in the courtroom too, among all the other spectators, in one of the front rows. He wanted to be there for Leon, wanted to support him. But the more he saw, the more fear crept up inside him. Leon sat there alone next to his lawyer. The last few days had been a whirlwind of chaos. His name had been dragged through the mud; people who used to celebrate him now avoided him. Nobody wanted to be associated with him. And Rico? Leon saw the uncertainty in his eyes as he sat down on the bench. Rico felt the stares. What if someone recognized him? And then, the first question. A casual acquaintance turned around to Rico. “Hey, aren’t you friends with Leon?” Rico’s heart raced. He felt his mouth go dry. He looked around. Cameras everywhere. If he stood by Leon now, he would be next. He forced a smile. “Nah, man. No idea what you mean.” Minutes pass. Leon hears the murmur of the crowd. Feels the stares. The tension. Then a girl taps Rico on the shoulder from behind. “I know you. You talked with Leon in a video once. Do you also stand behind what he did?” Leon can’t see Rico, but he hears his answer. “You’ve got the wrong person,” he mumbled. “I don’t know him.” It was as if Rico were watching himself in slow motion. Meanwhile, Rico’s words drilled into Leon’s heart. Just a few days ago Rico had sat next to him, had made plans with him, had called him “brother.” Leon turned around. His eyes fell on Rico. For a moment, just for a brief moment, their eyes met. Both of them felt frozen, as if the world had stopped. Rico followed the trial as if through a fog. Leon was led away. Rico sat there, paralyzed. ## Going deeper ⏱ 10 minutes Maybe you’ve experienced something like this. Maybe you’ve been in Rico’s shoes: - Maybe you stayed silent when you should have said something. - Maybe you took the easy way instead of standing by someone. - Maybe you passed on a secret that was entrusted to you. Or maybe you felt like Leon: - Maybe you counted on someone, but when you needed them, they were gone. - Maybe you stood up for someone, ended up in the line of fire yourself and then stood there alone. - Maybe you trusted someone with a secret, and then it got passed on. In moments like these, something breaks. And what breaks is trust. 👉 ****Point to the bridge you built.** Trust is like a bridge that is built from both sides. 👉 ****Stand on the first bridge pillar.** You start with an advance of trust. 👉 ****Take a step to the next pillar.** You give something without knowing whether it’s safe. I make myself vulnerable. And that’s exactly why trust is so fragile. You can build this bridge for years. And with just one situation, like with Rico and Leon, the whole bridge is broken. 👉 ****Knock the pillars over. It’s okay if it gets loud. But make sure the floor stays intact.** In the Bible we find a similar situation. With Jesus and his friends it was all a bit the other way around: 👉 ****Rebuild the bridge here, stand on it, and during the following story with Bible verses take a step to the next pillar each time.** For three years, Jesus shared his life with twelve friends almost day and night. It was a very intense time, and they experienced a huge amount together. With some of them Jesus had a very special friendship. At some point, Jesus’ opponents formed a conspiracy against him, which made his friends uneasy too. On the evening of his arrest he told his friends: “I’m telling you, you will all desert me.” 📖 ****Read [Mark 14:29-31](https://www.bible.com/bible/111/MRK.14.29-31.NIV?ref=thepulse.org)** A short time later, Jesus was arrested and all his friends ran away, except Peter. He followed the squad at a distance and sat down near the interrogation. There, all of a sudden, a few people noticed him: 📖 ****Read [Mark 14:67-72](https://www.bible.com/bible/111/MRK.14.67-72.NIV?ref=thepulse.org)** 👉 ****Knock over one pillar with every lie.** We see here that Peter is shaken by what he has done. Some translations say “he broke down and wept.” 👉 ****Point to the destroyed bridge.** What he sees in front of him is a bridge of trust that has collapsed because of his denial. He is disappointed in himself and can’t believe he did that. He denied Jesus three times. Meanwhile, Jesus goes through a brutal trial and sentencing. He is condemned to death as an innocent man. He is buried. But on the third day he is back. Very much alive, and he goes looking for his friends. Do you know which of his friends he sought out first? Peter. ([Mark 16:7](https://www.bible.com/bible/111/MRK.16.7.NIV?ref=thepulse.org) | [Luke 24:34](https://www.bible.com/bible/111/LUK.24.34.NIV?ref=thepulse.org) | [1 Corinthians 15:5](https://www.bible.com/bible/111/1CO.15.5.NIV?ref=thepulse.org)) We don’t know what they talked about at that meeting. But this video gives us an idea of what might have happened, considering what we read about the encounters between Peter and Jesus recorded in the Gospels. 🎬 ****Show the video.** “Do you love me?” Jesus and Peter in John 21 (Life of Jesus, Gospel of John) Jesus knows that Peter denied him out of fear and regretted it bitterly. Jesus was able to look deep into Peter’s heart and see how honestly sorry he was. 👉 ****Rebuild the whole bridge. Place a block at each outer end and lay the board on top. That way the bridge stays standing even when the pillars in between fall over.** And because through Jesus’ death and resurrection the unforgivable has become forgivable, he builds the whole bridge. 👉 ****Stand on the board and walk back and forth on the bridge while you speak.** There are no longer two sides building toward each other. No, with Jesus the bridge is complete, because he is the bridge. He builds the bridge from his side all the way to the end. And you know, before Jesus leaves the earth, he has a [heart-to-heart conversation](https://www.bible.com/bible/111/JHN.21.15-17.NIV?ref=thepulse.org) with Peter and then gives him a very important assignment: “Feed my sheep.” ([John 21:17](https://www.bible.com/bible/111/JHN.21.17.NIV?ref=thepulse.org)) What Jesus does is incredible: he doesn’t send Peter back to square one. He doesn’t say, “You’ll have to prove yourself again first.” No, he commissions him and gives him a big task and responsibility. In doing so he says: “I trust you, despite your lies.” Not because Peter can now build bridges better. No, because through his honesty Peter gives Jesus the room to build the bridge for him. And Jesus is the one who will be faithful. 📖 ****Read [2 Timothy 2:13](https://www.bible.com/bible/111/2TI.2.13.NIV?ref=thepulse.org)** ## Closing ⏱ 5 minutes Maybe you’ve experienced a bridge breaking. Maybe you trusted someone and were let down. Or you tore down a bridge yourself, like Peter, although he couldn’t actually tear it down, because Jesus had already built the indestructible bridge. And your bridge of trust can become whole again too. Not because you or the other person do everything right. But because there is someone who carries you. Jesus is that bridge. He himself says: 📖 ****Read [John 14:6](https://www.bible.com/bible/111/JHN.14.6.NIV?ref=thepulse.org)** Jesus isn’t just someone who helps you repair the bridge. He himself is the way. The bridge. The truth. The life. - Jesus is **the way** that leads us to God (and to real relationships). - Jesus is **the truth**. He never lies. - Jesus is **the life**, and he brings restoration, new hope, new trust. He didn’t just make forgiveness possible. He himself is the way that connects us with God and with each other again. He carries the weight of your failure, your fear, your broken friendships. He knows both: - Being betrayed. - And taking the whole burden on himself to build bridges again. With Jesus you stand on a bridge that no longer breaks. That can no longer collapse. That holds. Always. 👉 ****Knock over the pillars under the board with each of the next sentences** (they shouldn’t be carrying the board; the board should actually sit higher and be carried only by the outer pillars). ****This makes it clear that only the board (= Jesus) carries as the bridge.** When others run away, he stays. When you have failed, he stays. When you think you can’t trust anyone anymore, he is standing right there. And he holds you. Maybe today you’re knocking on a bridge again that once broke. Maybe you need courage to trust again. Maybe today, for the very first time, you need the bridge that not you, but Jesus built. 👉 ****Share a personal story here in which you experienced how Jesus rebuilt your bridge and is now the bridge that carries you.** Your trust doesn’t depend on people alone. It depends on him. And he gives you the love to forgive and to become free from the other person’s breach of trust. You need Jesus: for relationships that hold, for real forgiveness, for trust that doesn’t break. On his bridge you stand secure. ## Next step ⏱ 10 minutes - Set up a clearly visible cross next to the bridge of trust. If there is already a cross in the room, position the bridge in front of it so the participants walk across the bridge toward the cross. - Place a basket at the end of the bridge, right in front of the cross. - Hand out Jenga blocks (or small pieces of wood) and pens to all participants. Invite the participants to write on their block - a hurt they want to lay down, - a prayer they want to bring before God, - or something they want to entrust to Jesus. Then, at their own pace, they can walk across the bridge and put their block in the basket in front of the cross as a sign that they are handing what they wrote to Jesus. Give the participants enough time. Don’t force anything. Jesus often works most powerfully when we simply make room. Play fitting instrumental music in the background. Alternatively, the band can start playing quietly. Close with worship and prayer. *English version: September 2026*