May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13, NIV).
A woman gets a phone call from her doctor telling her to come in and review the results of a recent mammogram. She has an eerie feeling that something is wrong, but she anticipates the day she will know for sure. When she finally finds out that she has breast cancer, she begins to question who she really is.
A teenage boy is struggling both educationally and socially. He feels he has no friends and finds himself always being left out or left behind. One day, his parents stand in his bedroom door and announce that they are getting a divorce. This young man's already fragile world completely crumbles, and he is left wondering whether anybody really cares for him.
An employee who has worked at one job for twenty-seven years receives the letter that no employee wants to receive. The letter begins, "We want to thank you for your many years of service," and ends with, "we regret to inform you that we are downsizing significantly and will no longer need your service." With that one letter, all his financial stability, livelihood, and purpose for living is thrown out the window, and he wonders how he will be able to make it now.
No matter who we are, we all will experience situations, events, or circumstances that will cause our glass to break, our floor to crack, our foundation to crumble, and our world to seemingly come crashing down. It is at these times that we wonder what to do, who we are, and how we will make it through.
These are the moments in which strangely, God speaks to us, gives us direction, and shows us our need to depend on Him not less, but more. He fills us with hope and this hope allows us to see a glimmer of light in the midst of the debris of our lives. When our backs are against the wall, we have no place to bring our problems but to throw them up. God catches them and gives us peace.
Brokenness is necessary. Vance Havner said, "God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever."
Consider what Steve Goodier said, "Broken by hardships, disappointments and tragedy, people can become discouraged and cynical. But lives can also be mended. Put back together well, they won't be just like they were before. Damaged pieces reassembled with a golden bonding of patience and love will help form a person into an exquisite masterpiece. It is as if people have to be broken before they can become whole and complete."
When our glass cracks or completely shatters, God is ready to give us a new glass if we only trust Him and allow Him to lead us wherever He wants to go. It is in being broken that we become whole. It is in being cracked, that we allow light and love to enter our lives. It is in facing difficulties and disappointments, that we realize how strong we can be and how much grace can flow through our lives.
God knows how to fix cracked glasses. He knows how to use cracked people. In some way, all of us are cracked. We hide behind good looks, fine cars, big houses, and money. But God sees beyond all that stuff. He sees our cracked places, our broken hearts, our bleeding souls and He knows how to heal and restore. And when He fixes us, He fixes us completely, permanently, and fully.
Lord, we're all cracked in some places, broken in others. We don't know how to use damaged pieces, but You do. We don't know how to put our lives back together when everything has fallen apart, but You do. Take our dark places and infuse light. Restore our broken hearts and make us new. Help us never to allow the hardships of life to make us bitter, but to make us better, and to draw us closer to You, to peace, to hope, and to joy. In Jesus' name. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment