Brokenness

Do you remember playing with glow sticks as a kid?  To make it glow, you snapped the stick so the chemicals inside would mix.  Then you ran throughout the house looking for all of the dark places you could shine in.

The same can be said of us.  As Christians, we carry God’s light and presence to a dark world, but until we are broken of ourselves, His light can’t fully shine through.  God uses brokenness in our lives to harness our strengths so they can shine as He intended. 

I think of a horse and how it needs to be broken before it can follow directions and carry a rider. The horse has strength and power, but if left unbroken, the horse’s strength will become a weakness because it is too wild to safely ride on.

During the seasons of brokenness we all go through, there is a natural refining that takes place that positions our hearts to be contrite and humble.  Where there was once “bucking”, there is now calmness and the ability to receive direction from “the trainer”. 

Isaiah 57:15b says “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite.”  A contrite and humble heart provides the right environment for God to dwell in, for He is drawn to a heart that is repentant, not arrogant or proud and is surrendered to Him.

Psalms 147:3 says ” He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”  We don’t go through brokenness only to be tossed into a landfill as a broken toy, but rather to be revived as our Heavenly Father ministers to our deepest needs and holds us in the palm of His hand. 

His light shines through our brokenness.  Embrace it and don’t be afraid to be broken, for it is in this place that His presence is ever so near.