Brokenness

It's a funny feeling, brokenness, funny to spell too. It feels like such defeat sometimes, doesn't it? Like there is nothing else in the world you can do but sit there and wait for things to get better? But there is hope!

Can I go on a tangent about the word "but" for a moment? OK, thanks. It is SO powerful! I mean when you use it as a conjunction in a children's story for example "Jack was going to play outside, but he had to finish his homework first" it's not SO powerful. Now look at Ephesians 2:3-5 "among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. BUT God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when were were dead in our transgressions made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)." Don't you see?! The Bible is full of "buts"!And they're beautiful.... actually, you just inspired me for another topic with a catchy title to be coming soon!

Anyway.....so blah blah blah we are broken people and we feel defeated and like there is nothing we can do. NEWSFLASH: there isn't anything YOU can do. It's what God can do THROUGH you! I was just telling a friend on Facebook about 2 Corinthians1 that says in verses 3-4 " Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." We have trials in our lives that leave us feeling deflated. But "consider it joy, brothers, when you face trials of many kinds" (James 1:2). Why do we consider it a joy? 1: because it brings honor and glory to Christ Jesus, 2: because through it we are able to minister to others using our testimony (which then refers to number one). Don't you see that everything happens because it is meant to bring glory to God? We CANNOT feel defeated! "take heart! For I have overcome the world!" (John 16:33). God has already defeated everything we will overcome. Doesn't that give you hope? We all have a role in His plan for divine redemption. Jeremiah 29:11 says "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for good and not for evil, plans for a hope and a future."

So recently I've talked about Passion. During which there were several mentions of this brokenness that so many feel because let's face it, life is hard! And it takes a while to reach this state because I am sort of a control freak and I think I can handle everything myself which is so NOT true. So we reach a point at which we "give up" or as a Christian, we realize that God is bigger than our problems and we hand our lives over to Him because His plans are ALWAYS so much better than ours. Louie Giglio (fantastical speaker, by the way). Was speaking on our last morning and said something that really caught me off guard. He said that "Brokenness is the bow of which God launches arrows of healing." At first it didn't really make sense, but the more you think about it the more it totally DOES make sense. When we reach a point of brokenness, we realize that we can't do it on our own (which we have established ten million times today, but I just want to make sure I'm getting my point across) when we realize this God starts to work through us and heal us in a way that is only possible through Him. Simple as that! Another way to think about it is to think about a vase...you got it? OK. So you have this vase and it starts to crack. Just the paint at first, but then it gets deeper until the two sides are completely severed. Well, what do you see through that brokenness? LIGHT!!! ta-da, you've mastered it, right? Through our brokenness, the light and truth of Jesus can shine into our lives!

I know I pretty much gave you an essay to read today, but wasn't it worth it?! I thought so, but then again I think all my ideas are brilliant. This is probably elementary to you and you think I'M the stupid one for just figuring it out. Oh well. That's why you're reading this, right? Because you chose to embark on my life's journey with me. So you may just have to put up with my stubbornness sometimes.