Do Not Despise The Brokenness

~Without brokenness, how would we know what it is to be made whole?

~Without being dirty (from sin), how would we know what it is to be clean (set free)?

~Without heartache, how would we know what it feels like to be comforted by the Father?

~Without being abandoned or rejected, how would we know what it is to be accepted by a love so true, you can’t describe it in words?

~Without falling short, how would we know what it’s like to be restored?

~Without lack, how would we know what it’s like to satisfied?

Often, we think of our painful or negative situation as failures and nothing could be farther from the truth. These things were allowed to happen that we may receive the blessings (understanding, wisdom, compassion, faith, discernment, love, acceptance and peace) on the other side. It took me a long time to see the ugliness of my past as a blessing. But because of those things, I’m stronger, we are stronger, we can help others who face the same ugliness and edify (encourage) them, restored to the glory of God, by the leading of the Holy Spirit.

The training ground is no joke. It’s painful and heartbreaking. It can be down right brutal. It’s ugly and it’s hard. Many times I wanted to throw in the towel. But we have this assurance that everything that the enemy meant for our destruction, death and to steal from us, God uses to refine and strengthen us. God gives us beauty for the ash heaps of our past life. When we received Jesus into our hearts, we became new. No longer does our old nature (our former selves), those filthy rags have any place in us.

God, piece by piece, removes the grime of our poor choices. He heals the wounds we sustained by those of whom we mistakenly trusted and the ones we’ve inflicted on ourselves. He peals off the layers of faces (metaphorical masks) that we hid behind trying to make it seem like we are “keeping it together”. He helps us shake off the dust of rejection and so much more. He adopts us, takes us as His very own. We have been reconciled back to God through the sacrifice of His only Son. What kind of love is this? The greatest kind of love that is unexplainable and sometimes hard to accept because we don’t feel worthy of it. But nonetheless, we are loved. You are so loved!!