"Beautiful Brokenness"

"Beautiful Brokenness"

I read a story about a sweet mama shopping with her children - a toddler and an older child. Desiring to bring them joy, she bought some glow sticks. The toddler wanted one IMMEDIATELY so she put one in his chubby little fist. He happily waved it around until the older child grabbed it out of his hand. Meltdown.

The toddler kicked, screamed and threw a fit...until he saw the glow. The older brother had bent that glow stick, broken it and handed it back to him. It was shining so brightly - it looked like a star! Transfixed, the toddler stopped fussing and giggled with delight. This reminded me of a challenging truth. In order to shine, the glow stick must be broken. Sometimes, so must we.

We can be skipping happily along, comfortable and safe, when suddenly, we find ourselves in the midst of a storm. It feels as if our comfort and security have been yanked right out of our hands. Meltdown. We cry out to God because we're sinking fast. We may even throw a tantrum. As the trial goes on, we can feel stretched to our limits - bent out of shape. It hurts so much.

We may push God away. After all, if He cared - He wouldn't have let this happen, right? We likely beg Him to take the pain away, but He may not. So, we scramble and struggle until we splinter and break. Hopefully, we don't wait too long to drag ourselves back to Him. We may not always understand Him, but we know we need Him. He knows it too and graciously welcomes us back to His heart.

As we fall into His arms, He does something wonderful. He begins to knit us back together. It's hard. It hurts. And it helps. Through tears and fears, we get honest with Him. As we flounder, He fills up our faith. In our weakness, He is strong. In our foolishness, He gives His wisdom. As He heals us, we are humbled. Though we grapple and groan, we grow.

We remember the relief it is to surrender and stop trying to control everything. We rediscover that He is the One we can fully trust. When we cry, He cries with us. His compassion pours out to us and through us. Walking with Him feels so right, we wonder why we are so prone to wander.

Still, it's not easy. It's a process. We stumble and fall more than once and He faithfully brings us to our feet. He leads us through every dark corridor, lighting our way as He reignites our souls. And, we begin to glow. Ultimately, the trial transforms us like nothing else can and His love shines through us to those around us. Brokenness has become beautiful.

Does He do these things to be cruel? Never. It's not His nature. Sometimes, it's the only way to mend us like a bone being reset so it can truly and fully heal. With God, our tears are never wasted. He walks beside us, weeps with us, and works wonders in us. Strange as it may sound, He loves us enough to break us. In our brokenness, we heal and He shines. And, it's beautiful.

God bless you, friends.

"...we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us." ~Romans 5:3-5

"And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever." ~Daniel 12:3

"The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." ~John 1:5