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Abba Father,

I give up, trying to be strong is not working any more. Only You can be the strong I need right now. I am done trying to be in control of this situation. I am done crying empty hopeless tears. Lead me toward love. Grant me wisdom, to speak over the situation. Let me talk/walk/live in Truth. Let my dry bones be replaced with life. Speak into the silence I hear. Soften my heart. Breath upon the lifeless. Bring fourth your Spirit and healing to this place. Take my heart back to the place where I was in constant awe of You. Forgive my heart of doubt. Let me rest in Your arms. I trust in Your protection/comfort/provision, I don't need anymore signs that You are who You say you are! I want to be near to Your heart. I can't do this on my own, hear my plea. Mend my broken heart. Bring life/joy/gladness back into this place. Show me Your glory. Never once have we ever walked alone, You are faithful, God You are faithful.

love,
Your daughter.

¹ Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. ² Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. ³ And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. ⁴ The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. ⁵ For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. ⁶ For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

⁷ But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. ⁸ We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. ¹⁰ We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. ¹¹ For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. ¹² So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

¹³ It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, ¹⁴ because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. ¹⁵ ALL this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

¹⁶ Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. ¹⁸ So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

2 Corinthians 4

Not So Perfect People

We are all broken people in need of a Savior. After reading this meaty article on RelevantMagazine.com, I've been thinking a lot about how easily we hide brokenness. Especially after personally being broken before God and witnessing so many others with brokenness in their lives this week. We live in a broken and imperfect world, therefore all of man is broken. In all of us is something that makes us broken,"poverty and being gay and worship and money and porn and sex and depression and abuse." [the list goes on; hardship, personal struggles, divorce, addiction, pride, arrogance]

We can individually recognize that we are broken. For some reason, we've adopted the mentality that EVERYONE else around us at church is okay and seemingly perfect! How did we come to this conclusion, more so why? Christ didn't die for PERFECT people?! If we were perfect, Christ wouldn't have had to die in the first place. We look at how messed up our life is at present and hold it locked inside. We paint on our smiles every Sunday morning (or night), when asked how we're doing we nod and say good. Are we REALLY good?! It's this scary cycle of beating around the bush until we (hopefully) crack. We try to appear as perfect people. How exhausting, always trying to polish the outside, when our insides are decaying away. Always trying to be perfect gets old quick, yet we've all gotten really good at it. Jesus didn't hang out with perfect people. He surrounded himself with the people that had issues and USED THEM! After all, Christ died for the UNGODLY.

I can recall times in my life where I've felt brokenness in my life and begged God for courage to bring it to the table. I would tell myself, okay this is it, I'm going to come forward, this has to get off my chest. I would constantly talk myself out of it, in fear that I would be judged by fellow Jesus followers. If you feel that confessing your brokenness will make you feel ashamed or embarrassed...think about how ashamed and embarrassed Christ was when he WORE all of your shame on the cross. Instead of feeling ashamed feel empowered! Christ is then ready to USE you. I feel that part of the issue with us not wanting to confess our brokenness comes from being too comfortable and viewing grace as a get out jail free card. We must desire to be used by God, which can be a scary thought but it's the step we must take to follow Jesus fully.

The key here is honesty and authenticity. We have to break down the walls that make people feel less than for being broken. We have to put an end to this tendency of "having it all together". None of us have it all together. Sharing brokenness welcomes; prayer, encouragement, weight lifted, accountability, grace, mercy, and love.

To combat brokenness within the Church we must get on our knees. Ask God to reveal broken parts of your heart. Once we can recognize the brokenness of our own heart, ask God to come into it that dark, yet never hidden part of our heart. He is and will always be the healer and deliver, He longs to see your broken heart restored. Also pray that God would make you available and approachable to those around you with broken and messy hearts. God has a history of successful heart transplants, allow Him to operate on you today! It's going to be uncomfortable and the healing might take longer than hoped for, but lasting results are promised.

YOUR BLOOD IS ENOUGH TO BREAK EVERY CHAIN.