Hey Everyone!
Wow I haven’t written a blog in forever. But an amazing friend of mine, Laura, encouraged me to write another one. I met her while working at Kanakuk this summer and she is such a lady of God. She and other great friends have inspired me and encouraged me in so many ways and have continued to push me towards the cross. They are great examples of godly women wanting to grow more and more in their walk with Christ, just as I want to do. A different part of continuing to grow in my relationship with Christ is something I want to write this blog about, which is about the joy of being broken.
In James 1:2 it says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds…” Suffering is a part of this world. It just is! Trials are inevitable. Paul says that we should expect them and even rejoice in them! Wait, what…? Rejoice in trials? Rejoice in pain? Rejoice in being broken? How am I supposed to do that? Well you know what? Lets start off with this… You never hear anyone complaining about not having a 2nd mouth do you? Well… first off, it’s because that is just silly, but why else? Because having a 2nd mouth is not even an option! In the same way, why do we argue against suffering? How can we look around and say this is wrong? Because every time we experience pain there’s a voice in our heads that cries out, “It shouldn’t be this way!” Well it’s because there is hope beyond the suffering we have now. Beyond the suffering that we feel we can’t escape. Beyond being broken. A man named Ben Stuart says, “There is potential for good locked in every situation. Something to rejoice in.” He gives an example of lifting weights! Your muscles are being put in a crisis. We are putting them in pain! But we know it is producing something we want. The burn feels good! Pshh… lies. No it doesn’t. Haha it hurts!! But you know it is producing something great and in the mist of pain, you can rejoice and be glad.
In James 1:3 it says, “…because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” Within pain there is potential! Like we said earlier, there is potential for good locked in every painful situation. You can rejoice in pain and being broken because you know this pain, if I walk through it correctly, will change me into something that’s better. I don’t know about you all… but God has to continue to break me. He has to continue to break me of the things that I either put ahead of Him, and or of the things that are displeasing to Him. And wow… it can hurt. Personally, for me, I find myself depending on people for my joy, and God has to break me of that. It really hurts my heart in the moment. To be more specific, one of my greatest fears is separation from the people that I care so much about. These are ultimately the people who I find myself depending on a lot. Sometimes I have to go through moments of feeling alone for God to break me and bring me to my knees to remind me that I can’t put my dependence on other people. He wants me to depend on Him! Despite the pain and the hurt, I am so glad it doesn’t end there. Guy’s we can rejoice in being broken! There is potential for good when being broken… and it is how we handle it and if we can let it be used for Gods intended purpose; which is to help shape us into someone better. The person He wants us to be and made us to be. Reminds me of that example of a statue … we are the rock and God is the master sculptor. Sometimes it may hurt getting pieces chipped off… and us not being able to see what’s going on and possibly wondering, “hey what are you doing God?” We don’t see that God is sculpting us, breaking us and letting us go through trials that eventually, if we trust God even when we are hurting, is helping to form us into a magnificent statue, a beautiful person. A better person who is more like Jesus.
All the pain and the suffering that we have caused, He endured the punishment for, so that we might come to know God. God has done something glorious! He took the pain in this world and sent His son to endure the cross. Used death to bring life! (Talk about a trial!) God will take the pain, the suffering, and the being broken and bring life through Jesus. When we don’t understand the reasons of those hard times, hopefully we will know and be reminded that God Himself, who is sovereign and good, sent his own son Jesus to take on pain. Ben Stuart said, “What if we all began to see our sufferings, be it physical, emotional or relational, as a bruising blessing, a severe mercy, all reminding us of Gods sovereignty”. When we live our lives in complete submission to Christ, we can look at each and every broken piece or scar as a precious unusual gift. There lies the true blessing of being bruised. Lean on Him. Learn that there can be joy in being broken because God is doing something special in you because He loves you. I challenge both you and me, to take our trials, our struggles, and give them to God. To trust Him enough to know that there is potential for good in every situation. And I also pray that we will be able to find the joy in being broken. God break my heart for what breaks yours. Help us become more of the men and women you want us to be!
Thanks for taking time to read this blog! If you have any comments or questions feel free to contact me. God bless!
joygossett3 