redemption

Stories: There is Always A Mess and A Lesson

DevotionalsMay 13, 2019May 13, 2019

What is your story? I’m sure it is messy because everyone’s is. God teaches us through real-life stories. He is there with you through the mess. That is His promise.

Imagine being nine years old. Your mother has just passed away from AIDS, which was horribly debilitating and you saw her wither away. You and your twelve brothers and sisters are placed with various people (some in foster care, some with other family members, and some with grandma).

You are placed with your grandmother. Going to school is pretty crappy because they want you to read all the time and that is super hard. The teacher keeps fussing at you to watch your language…What the !#*@ does she know???

Looking Deeper

This was a student of mine years ago. He taught me a valuable lesson. Everyone comes with a story. I admit the first week he was in my class, I kept hoping someone had made a mistake or that he would move out quickly to a new school.

This boy was a handful in a class that already had some handfuls. I am embarrassed to say I didn’t know his story until he had been in my class for a while. Eventually, I called his grandmother to come in for a conference because he was cursing all the time and refused to do any work.

Once she came in and told me that he was missing his mom, but she (grandma) was certainly glad not to have that burden anymore, my heart bloomed open. I recognized him for the first time. A child who was lost and hurting. Of course he didn’t care about his work. He was grieving. Of course, he was angry. He had just lost his mother and no one really cared about him.

You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.
John 8:15, ESV

Seeing Through the Mess

Over the next year and a half, this boy faced so many challenges. He was abandoned, forced to cut drugs, shoplifted to get clean clothes and shoes, went hungry more than not, and was finally put in a foster group home. And through it all I loved him. I told him so, from the moment I understood his story.

He learned to read (enough to pass the EOG). I took him and his classmates to art museums, plays, and science museums. We went to eat at restaurants and learned how to make simple meals with cheap ingredients. And I saw a smile that still makes me feel like a million bucks when I remember it. He still lives in my heart even though I don’t know what happened next in his life.

God taught me so much about seeing children, about loving them when it was hard. He taught me about perseverance and seeing past the now but into the whole story. I will forever be grateful for this precious child of God and how much he brought to my life.

How precious is your unfailing love, O God!
Psalm 36:7, NIV

Lifting the Cover

God can use our messes to help others, to teach us, and to illuminate His plan. Let me be clear, He does not create the mess. We do just fine with that on our own. Humans are great at breaking, tearing, and destroying. Our Father is great at making lemonade.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
Ecclesiastes 3:11, NIV

As you read through stories in the Bible, nowhere is there a perfect, idyllic situation. All of it starts or ends in a mess. God uses these messes to give us hope. No one is outside of His reach. Sometimes the messier the better. For instance, David (1 and 2 Samuel), Paul (Acts 9), and Peter (Luke 22:54-62).

God can use our messes to help others, to teach us, and to illuminate His plan. Click To Tweet

Redemptive Stories

We need to listen more. Hear and see those around us. I promise, God is using their stories to teach us, to grow our faith. At the same time, we need to dig into His word. Read our Bibles, daily. Find the stories that God has left there for us. Use what we learn to build our own redemptive story so we can love others more fully.

Dear God,

Thank you for showing me that everyone has a story. Help me to not judge those whose stories I do not know. I am so grateful that you can make my messes work for Your glory if I will just listen to You and feed on Your word. Father, you have given me so many examples of this throughout the Bible. Thank you for Your guide book that lights my path.

love,

Annie Spratt

brokenness, broken, beautiful, beauty, redemption, Oh Lord Help Us, Christian, women, mentor, ministry

Beauty: Allowing the Lord to Restore Our Brokenness

DevotionalsMay 6, 2019May 6, 2019

When we allow the Lord to restore the brokenness in our hearts, He makes us into something beautiful. Indeed, He makes all things beautiful in His time. Beauty for ashes.

A few weeks ago I attended a friend’s beautiful birthday celebration. But this was no ordinary birthday party! It was a Girl’s Day (and night) of epic proportion. I’m talking lunch, coffee, pedicures, shopping, cocktails, and a gourmet dinner. It was truly a fairy tale kind of afternoon.

But like any beautiful fairy tale, brokenness emerged as part of the story. At one point, we were all sitting around a table on a warm, breezy veranda. That’s when the birthday girl suggested we play a get-to-know-you trivia game.

Bits of Brokenness…

As my friend read off the unique facts about each woman, we were to match the descriptor with each woman’s name. As she read the descriptions, bits of brokenness revealed themselves. One woman survived breast cancer. Another woman served in the military in Afghanistan. Someone else had just given birth three weeks ago. And another’s husband almost died twice last year….the incredible list went on! Given that I was new to the group, I had no idea which description matched which woman.

And as I looked around the table at all their beautiful faces, pretty clothes, and newly painted nails, I was still at a loss. Honestly, I found it hard to believe that this group–of such outwardly put together women–could have experienced such deep depths of brokenness. When my friend revealed the answers to the questions, I looked at each woman at the table. Each one was a testament to the amazing beauty that emerges when we allow the Lord to restore our brokenness.

He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.

Psalm 147:3

A Therapeutic Process…

A simple illustration of how the Lord has turned my brokenness into beauty is through the craft of jewelry making. For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved making jewelry. As a little girl, I would sneak into my mom’s sewing kit, hunting for colorful embroidery floss. It took some doing to unwrap the threads from the pokey pincushions and other sewing supplies. But once I had my assortment of colors, I’d spend hours making elaborate macrame friendship bracelets.

Amid the emotional chaos of my parents’ unraveling relationship, the slow straightening, pulling, and knotting of the long strings became a therapeutic process. I remember feeling so satisfied when I’d finally finished a bracelet.

Slowly yet surely, I would transform the once tangled, stringy mess into a tightly fashioned pattern of beauty. And doesn’t this mirror how the Lord works in our hearts? Under His patient and steady hand, the once seemingly hopeless, jumbled mess of a broken heart is mended into a beautifully woven masterpiece.

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted….

Isaiah 61:1

Castaways…

A few years ago, I found myself in need of some jewelry therapy once again! My husband and I were in the middle of a financial wilderness season–which posed a problem for someone whose love language is gift giving! I simply couldn’t bear the thought of allowing a friend or family member’s birthday to pass without giving her a gift. Because I couldn’t afford to buy anything, I decided to make jewelry to give as presents.

The only problem was, the pretty new beads from the local bead store were pricey. But the Holy Spirit gave me an ingenious idea for how to get my hands on free jewelry supplies. I began asking friends and family to give me any old, broken, or castaway jewelry that they were willing to part with. Then, I’d take apart the old pieces and make them new jewelry from the supplies I received. Upcycling at its finest!

Their Trash, My Treasure…

It was only a matter of time before the floodgates of jewelry supplies opened. Soon, women were bringing me bags of broken or unwanted jewelry, and their trash truly became my treasure! Amid my fear and uncertainty about our family’s financial future, once again, I was able to find comfort in the simple physical process of making jewelry.

After putting my baby and toddler to bed, I’d sit for hours sorting through all the broken pieces, dismantling and organizing the beads, playing around with different color combinations, and exploring new designs. As I delved into that creative process, the Creator was sorting through the broken pieces of my heart–untangling knots from old wounds and refashioning me into His original design.

Broken to Beautiful…

Fast forward a few years, and the Holy Spirit began to show me how this creative process–of taking something broken and making it beautiful–has tremendous potential as a tool for ministry. That’s when the Lord gave me the idea to host guided jewelry making parties as a form of ladies’ fellowship. I presented the idea to my pastor’s wife, and our ladies’ Bible study group decided to host our first Broken to Beautiful event.

The evening was such a blessing! My pastor’s wife shared a powerful message about Christ’s restoration; we enjoyed a time of food and fellowship, and I shared my testimony of how the Lord has taken me on a journey from a place of brokenness to one of beauty.

That night, I shared with those ladies something that I know to be true: We are not beautiful despite being broken; rather, we are beautiful precisely because we have experienced brokenness. And when we allow the Lord to restore our broken parts, He puts us back together perfectly, making us even more beautiful than before. When that evening ended, two new souls were added to the kingdom, as two women handed their broken hearts over to the Lord. He is now making them beautiful.

We are not beautiful despite being broken. We are beautiful because we have experienced brokenness and allowed the Lord to restore our broken parts. Click To Tweet

Precious Jewels…

Before long, our ladies group began to take Broken to Beautiful events to the young women living in a nearby orphanage. The girls sort through the broken, dismantled jewelry, choose their favorite beads, and create beautiful new pieces of jewelry. Through this hands-on activity, they experience a physical picture of the spiritual process that the Lord wants to do in each of our hearts.

He sees their broken hearts. Not as accidents or mistakes to be discarded and thrown away. But as precious jewels, full of splendor and worthy of honor in His kingdom. Each time we finish an event with these young ladies, their countenances change–from dark and sullen to light and hopeful. And their bracelets serve as a powerful outward reminder of the inner beauty and worth that they possess.

Oh Lord Help Us…

Recently, the Director of Oh Lord Help Us, Rachael, invited me to begin holding Broken to Beautiful events in our community. We hosted our first one last week and plan to host many more. We’re inviting women to bring their old, broken, and castaway jewelry to the events, and they will leave with a beautiful new piece that they have created.

Pieces from their broken jewelry will eventually show up in the new designs created by women at future gatherings. Their beads could also be incorporated into beautiful pieces created by the young ladies in our Hope + Vine artisans program.

So, Beloved, our brokenness becomes our beauty. Literally and spiritually. Because we are women who serve a God who gives us beauty for ashes. A God who truly makes all things beautiful in His time.

He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

Ecclesiastes 3:11

How has the Lord turned your brokenness into beauty? Would you like to host or attend a Broken to Beautiful event? If so, contact us: events@ohlordhelp.us

Debby Hudson

All scripture references from The King James Version of The Bible

redeemed, broken, christian, women, encouragement

Masterpiece: Five Possible Responses to Brokenness

Devotionals, Stay SaneMarch 18, 2018July 30, 2019

There are different ways to respond to the brokenness we have experienced. One way brings glory to the Creator. God wants to use the brokenness to create a masterpiece.

Last fall, I was at a holiday vendor event and had a divine connection. There I met a lady who I knew I would be connecting with again! Kim is a wife, mother, and physical therapist. Her passion is to share God’s love with others by sharing her life experiences. Today she is sharing a valuable lesson she has only been able to learn from walking through difficult seasons. Here Kim writes…

“It was someone else’s fault.” “Don’t worry about it, no one can be perfect.” “You can pick yourself back up and do what you need to pick yourself back up.” “I can’t believe you let yourself do that.” These are all responses that we may hear from our families and friends and when we make mistakes and become broken.

Response

As Christians, what is our initial response to our own brokenness – shame, guilt, anger, coverup? I have found that responses to brokenness fall into these scenarios…

1. Do what we can to cover our brokenness so hopefully, no one finds out or notices it.

2. Isolate ourselves, pull away from others, and sink into self-pity because of feelings of shame and guilt.

3. Hide our brokenness, secretly deal with our brokenness; to the outside we have it all together but on the inside we are broken.

4. Let our brokenness be known and seen but we either don’t want to change or we don’t know how to change so we remain broken and our brokenness just becomes part of us.

5. We allow ourselves to be made into a new creation using our broken pieces to make the new masterpiece through vulnerability, repentance, love and accountability of others, and reconciliation to Christ.

The Correct Response

As I have worked through my extreme brokenness over the past several years, I am convinced that God desires the latter response even though that is probably the most difficult and most vulnerable response. It is also a response that I believe God calls us to encourage with others as His disciples. Our response to our brokenness, and to the brokenness of those in our midst, reflects our true beliefs of who God is and the characteristics of God.

Our response to our brokenness, and to the brokenness of those in our midst, reflects our true beliefs of who God is and the characteristics of God. Click To Tweet

I have walked down the path of all of these responses in relation to my brokenness. Prior to being a Christian, I would tend to accept my brokenness, not try to change it. I didn’t worry who saw my brokenness. I would say the other 4 responses are all responses that followers of Christ may give. As a Christian we have admitted that we are broken and need Christ’s forgiveness; but I know I stopped at this knowledge and initial confession. From that point of initial salvation, we have a choice of what we do with our continued brokenness. Within so many Christian communities, we feel we need to hide and coverup our brokenness because we are to be all put together since we have Christ! That is how I lived my life for years.

My view of brokenness also affected my friendships and marriage. I formed some close relationships, but not vulnerable or transparent relationships. That reflected my relationship with God. I wanted to know a lot about God, but I was scared to become vulnerable and transparent with Him. I didn’t accept His unconditional love. As I continued with this superficial, knowledge-based relationship with Christ, I did not surrender to my brokenness to allow for healing and strength to overcome temptation in that same area of brokenness. As a result, I fell into temptation again resulting in extreme brokenness.

Redeemed, Not Perfect

Over the past couple of years as I walked through extreme brokenness God has taught me several things about brokenness. The first lesson was to really believe that just because we are saved doesn’t mean we are perfect, un-tempted, or sinless. In fact, once we begin to really follow Christ as Lord and Savior, Satan will wage war within us. How much we believe that affects our response with our continued brokenness.

After my salvation, Satan attacked my view of myself which produced shame and guilt and a desire to just cover up that part of my life. I wanted God to take that from me. I didn’t want to deal with all of my brokenness that was a result of my view. So for years, I kept that part of me secret and didn’t do my part to surrender that part of me to God.

For the first time, I surrendered my whole self to Christ, broken pieces and all. I became transparent about my brokenness to those around me. I believed Christ’s promise to make me into a new creation as I walked through my brokenness beside Him. That walk included pain, consequences, hard conversations, and life change. But I didn’t do it alone nor in my own power. Through Christ’s redemption and Power, I love who I was created to be, am thankful for my brokenness, and am in intimate relationships with others and God for the first time.

His Glory

God wants to use your brokenness to create His masterpiece in you. He wants your vulnerability, your transparency, and your brokenness so He can display His love, His power, His redemption, and His glory; creatively using your broken pieces to reflect Him in you. You are His masterpiece, brokenness and all!

Thank you, Kim!!

If you have found this inspiring, share the encouragement…

Annie Spratt

Broken, but God…has redeemed me.

Grace: Forgiveness and Redemption is Available for Everyone

Devotionals, Stay SaneFebruary 11, 2018July 30, 2019

We are all sinful and in need of God’s radical grace. It is only His forgiveness and redemption is what brings true righteousness.

There are two enticing schools of thought Christians generally gravitate toward:

I am a sinner and need to be redeemed. (Yet still believes they’re basically good.)
My sin is too great. I don’t believe God could possibly forgive me.

Both are wrong.

Yahweh, if You considered sins, Lord, who could stand? But with You there is forgiveness, so that You may be revered.

Psalm 130:3-4, HCSB

Sinfulness

Several months ago, I read about a father and son duo in 2 Kings 20 and 21. The father, Hezekiah, got sick and was going to die, but he reminded God of how he had lived his life to please Him. In response to this, God granted Hezekiah 15 more years to live.

Three years into Hezekiah’s bonus 15, he had a son, Manasseh. He was an evil dude.

Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem with it from one end to another. This was in addition to his sin that he caused Judah to commit. Consequently, they did what was evil in the Lord’s sight.

2 Kings 21:16, HCSB

God spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they refused listen. Not only was Manasseh a mass murderer, he transformed the people he ruled over into a nation of sinners. As I read about this all I could think was: Man; if God hadn’t added years to Hezekiah’s life, Manasseh wouldn’t have been born and none of this horrific stuff would have happened. Be careful what you beg God for.

Forgiveness and Redemption

Fast forward to this past week when I read the 2 Chronicles account of Manasseh. I was shocked to find out that when Manasseh was captured by the Babylonians as Isaiah had prophesied, he humbled himself and repented to the Lord. But that wasn’t the thing that rattled me. God forgave him.

He prayed to Him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.

2 Chronicles 33:13, ESV

Wait; WHAT?!

Of course. God knew what would happen and He chose to fashion a story of redemption from the worst of the worst. But it feels too generous. Manasseh filled Jerusalem with innocent blood and turned a godly nation pagan. Then God not only forgave him, but restored him to his kingdom. It’s hard to reconcile that, because if I’m being honest, I don’t think my sin is that bad.

Radical Grace

Matthew 5 has been greatly instrumental in helping me understand the radical grace revealed in the story of Manasseh. It also shows that no one is good and God does not weigh sin as we do. Manasseh’s forgiveness seems undeserved. Yet Jesus told the multitude, hating someone is equal to murdering them, and lusting after someone is equal to committing adultery. Jesus Christ is the only good that ever existed in the world.

The actions of sin have different ramifications. If I hate another member of my church body, it is a transgression. Keeping the hate to myself would fester and rot my heart, and the ripple effect would slowly poison those around me. In contrast, if I had an affair, everyone would know about it and the result would be a tsunami of grief. However, both are evils that flow out of the heart and the penalty is separation from God.

Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore He will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him!

Isaiah 30:18, NIV

True Righteousness

Over and over in scripture we see God knows our hearts. Outward morality puffs up and God wants none of that. Pointing a finger at someone whose sin is front page news gets the focus off of me and shrouds my pride. I may even feel the illusion of righteousness. Isaiah 64:6 immediately dispels that hogwash when our righteous deeds are called menstrual rags!

We are saved by grace. It is the gift of God. No human’s good deed or righteous act can produce salvation. Nor is there any sin the blood of Christ has not covered (1 Peter 3:18). That is why the gospel is such GOOD NEWS!

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.

Isaiah 55:6-9, ESV

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Valeriy Andrushko

We are all sinful, having failed and fallen short.
Praise the Lord for redemption through Christ!

desperate, abuse, forgiveness, mercy, redeemed, redemption

Desperate: God’s Redemption Covers Our Messes

Devotionals, Stay SaneJanuary 9, 2018June 27, 2019

God has heard the cry of women throughout history. Living through abuse may result in desperate actions to protect ourselves, but God’s redemption covers our messes and can bring Him glory.

Throughout the holiday season a song by Pentatonix has been playing both in my home and on the radio called “Good to Be Bad.” If you are a fan of the group, I’m sure you’ve heard it. It’s a fun tune that causes a smile to light your face – I imagine kids love it for its message! In fact, my husband has teased me throughout the season, saying it reminds him of me. I can’t imagine where he would get that idea!

Nevertheless, despite the silliness around the song, it spurred me to ruminate over the bad girls of the Bible, as Liz Curtis Higgs named them in her 2013 book. To be honest, it further spurred me. My thoughts first turned in that direction in early December when our pastor preached a sermon from Genesis 38 about Tamar, a daughter-in-law of Judah.

Now ladies, let’s be clear; I am a Baptist girl, raised in a Southern Baptist church, attended 2 Baptist colleges, even a short stint at Southern Seminary, so let’s just say that I had heard of Tamar. I practically drowned in Biblical theology and doctrine! But let me tell you girlfriends, this gal had never heard, at least not in my remembrance, that for Tamar, it was good to be bad.

How do I know?

Check out the lineage of Jesus…she’s there, a couple of lines above Rahab, the harlot.

In fact, as my pastor, Jamaal Williams, was stating, Jesus’ heritage is comprised of the very people He came to save! In addition, Pastor Jamaal reminded me of an important truth, which I believe conservative Christians too often forget when we become wrapped up in the doctrine of the “Thou Shalt Not’s“: God is tenaciously for vulnerable women, regardless of their pasts.

You see, Tamar had been chosen to be the wife of Judah’s firstborn son, Er. No falling in love or courtship there…still isn’t acceptable today in many middle eastern countries, by the way. However, and this is difficult for us to grasp, God chose to kill him because Er was evil in His sight, (Genesis 38:6-7). It’s very likely Tamar was abused.

As was the custom, Tamar was then given to Judah’s next son, Onan, so that Er could have an heir. Turns out, (shocker), Onan had no desire to perform such a selfless act and allowed his seed to fall on the ground. Did he really think God couldn’t see in the dark? This angered God, so he killed Onan.

Whoa.

No sons left to give; the last one was too young…and truly, the apples hadn’t fallen far from the tree. Despite the honored cultural tradition of levirate marriage, Judah had no plan to give his last son to Tamar, even though it would bring destitution and shame to her life. He didn’t want that son to die, too!

And we thought #MeToo was a new thing.

Years passed, Tamar waited, no husband was forthcoming. What’s a girl to do when she is treated unjustly? She devises a plan…and what a plan it was!

Desperate: Self-Protection

I recommend you read the story in its entirety, but to condense it: Tamar disguised herself as a prostitute, tricked Judah into sleeping with her, and conceived a child. When he was first told that Tamar was pregnant, he wanted to have her burned alive. I kid you not; such was his self-righteousness and double standard of justice. However, when Tamar sent Judah proof that he was the father, uh-oh! He began to feel shame and rightly so. He said, “She has been more righteous than I, because I did not give her to Shelah my son.”

Wouldn’t you have loved to see his face when Judah received that 11×14 envelope of proof?

This can be confusing, however. Tamar’s actions were not an act of faith, but sin. Out of desperation, she took matters into her own hands instead of trusting God to provide for her. However, Judah had power over her and chose to abuse it. For reasons we don’t fully grasp, God forgave her and used one of her sons (she had twins!) to carry the seed forward in the line that led to Christ.

Desperate: God’s Redemption

God chooses to use weak and complex people to accomplish His will. Again, refer to the genealogy of Jesus. He doesn’t excuse our sin- there must be repentance (Psalm 86:4-5), but He uses ALL things, even the consequences of our sin, to accomplish His glory (Isaiah 46:8-10).

Rejoice the soul of Your servant,
For to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive,
And abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You.

Psalm 86:4-5, NKJV

In many societies today women are still treated as property, no better than dogs, really. It’s easy to judge those cultures as backward or archaic. Yet, in the U.S. 4,774,00 women experience domestic violence by an intimate partner every day. America’s abuse of women has just been more subtle and hidden…but not from the Father.

God hates injustice and watches over the needy, the fatherless and the widow. His Word speaks clearly concerning these issues; I’m only naming two due to space (Deut. 10:18-19; Isaiah 10:1-2). When we turn our backs to these groups and gather in our Christian huddles for more Bible studies, prayer meetings, or leadership trainings, I wonder if the Father grieves, as Gene Edwards posited in his 1993 book, The Divine Romance. (There is a place for equipping; of course there is, but let us equip ourselves in order to go, not to sit and simmer.)

My prayer for you this year is the same for me, that as we love Jesus more deeply, His love will flow through us to the needy, the abused, the fatherless and the widow…and whomever He places in our paths.

If you have interest in the books mentioned, please consider purchasing them through these affiliate links. A small portion will go to help support this ministry at no extra cost to you (to read more about affiliates see the disclaimer page):

Bad Girls of the Bible

The Divine Romance

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Joel Filipe

We all have messes in our lives.
If we allow Him to, God will redeem our stories and make them beautiful.

broken, brokenness, beauty, faithfulness, redeemed, redemption

Making Mosaics

Devotionals, Stay SaneOctober 1, 2017January 19, 2020

God, the Master Artist, looks at the shards of our brokenness and sees beauty that we can’t. God uses the brokenness and creates a new, beautiful mosaic.

I don’t know anyone in this world who has escaped brokenness. I know I haven’t. In fact, brokenness touched my life in profound ways early on in my life. I spent most of my adult life thus far trying to hide how broken I was, but once I began to acknowledge all the scattered pieces of me laying all around, I found myself desperate to find a way to put the pieces of me back together.

I found myself on a journey towards healing from childhood sexual abuse. But every time I thought I had finally fit two pieces of me back together, I would see a new pile of all that was shattered in a corner I didn’t see before. I pleaded with God to put me back together. After all, He promises “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3, ESV). Surely healing meant He would put me back together.

As I have walked this journey, I have come to understand healing isn’t what I envisioned it would be. I thought of healing as God putting the broken pieces of me back together like a puzzle. While I can’t possibly put all the countless pieces of me back into the places they were before, I was certain God could. Yet, He hasn’t. His healing isn’t about putting me back together. It’s about making the old new.

His healing isn’t about putting me back together. It’s about making the old new. Click To Tweet

The problem with putting the pieces back together is that once the pieces were fitted where they were to begin with, they provide an appearance of wholeness yet are still fractured. A puzzle put together still breaks in the same places. It appears whole, you see the entire picture the pieces come together to create, yet it’s perpetually broken, fractured forever. God’s healing won’t put the pieces back together to give me an appearance of wholeness while leaving me still broken. So what is He doing instead?

God isn’t putting me together like a puzzle. When He looks at the chaotic mess of my scattered shards, He sees a new work of art as only an Artist can. He not only sees this new work of art, He begins creating it. He picks up each broken piece of me, lovingly cleans it and polishes it, and He places it in its new place in the mosaic He is making out of me.

When He looks at the chaotic mess of my scattered shards, He sees a new work of art... Click To Tweet

A mosaic, you see, is made by taking broken pieces and arranging them into a work of art held in place by some kind of glue or cement. That glue holds all those broken pieces together as one work of art. It is whole yet comprised of what was once broken. But the eyes of the artist saw beauty in the midst of the broken, and created something new out of what once was old. Unlike a puzzle, a mosaic, though made of broken pieces, is completely whole. It is held together, cemented in place, so it can’t be taken apart.

God, the Master Artist, looks at the shards of my brokenness and sees beauty that I can’t. The abuse that broke me cannot be undone (trust me, I’ve tried), but God uses the brokenness and creates a new mosaic. He doesn’t place all those shattered pieces back where they once were to create the appearance of wholeness. No, He does more than that. He honors the story of each broken piece, polishing it off, and places it in the glue of His grace and mercy and love. That glue can never be broken again. Out of old, broken pieces, He is fashioning a beautiful, new mosaic.

Of course, the brokenness can be seen and each shard still has a story to tell, but the glue of His faithfulness holding all the pieces together creates a whole piece of art that tells of His goodness through the brokenness. It tells of a love that refuses to leave me shattered. Healing is not putting the pieces of me back together. It’s much greater than that. Healing is making a new work of art…wholeness made out of brokenness.

...the glue of His faithfulness holding all the pieces together creates a whole piece of art... Click To Tweet

As I said at first, I don’t know of anyone in this life who has escaped brokenness, and I don’t know what it is that broke you and left you in pieces. So my dear and precious sisters, broken and scattered, take heart. He is not putting the old you back together. He is not merely fitting pieces of an old puzzle back where they once were so all can see where you broke.

He loves you too much to leave you with the appearance of wholeness yet perpetually broken. He is taking all the broken pieces of who you used to be and artfully creating a new masterpiece, telling a story of how you are being put back together…a story of how where you have walked will shape who you become. You, my dear sister, are not a puzzle to be fit back together into the old. You are a mosaic being masterfully made new.

Haunted: Finding Redemption from Abuse

Stay SaneJune 4, 2017July 30, 2019

This week I have the honor of sharing a guest post from one of the bravest women I have ever known. Over the past year I have watched in awe her transformation and admire the boldness she possesses. Kelly is an advocate for women who have been victims of abuse and desires for them to experience the same redemption and freedom she now has after so many years of longing and praying.

Please support her mission and ministry by visiting Blankets of Redemption.

“God, please make it go away!”

“It” didn’t even have a name. There were memories, categories, ideas for “it” in my head, but I wasn’t even sure what “it” was. I just knew “it” had to go away. Most people in my life who knew about “it” were not supportive or helpful. I think they didn’t really know what to do with “it” either. So when my family moved two states away from where we had called home our entire lives, I was determined more than ever to make “it” go away and get a clean break.

I know, you probably are wondering what in the world “it” is. I have a name for “it” now. “It” is sexual abuse that I experienced for some time during my childhood. When God redeemed me, called me Daughter, I was certain I had to make it go away. All the other Christians I was surrounded by at the time seemed to agree, as they insisted it didn’t matter at all because “if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

So I prayed, “God, please make it go away!” I prayed the only words I could find for experiences I had no words for.

But it never did go away. I tried for years and years, yet it persisted. It’s impact seemed to spread to every part of me and my life. I was very good at pretending it wasn’t there and hiding all the ways it made itself present. Still, it haunted me, and still I begged God to make it go away…until I stopped praying because I thought God didn’t care about it in the first place.

I knew God loved me. I knew He cared about me. I had seen His grace, mercy, forgiveness, and kindness over and over in my life in every area but that one. Yet I always felt I was somehow less than because He was leaving “it” and refusing to hear my oh-so-desperate cries it seemed.

Then completely unexpectedly, God brought a woman into my life who began to walk with me on a journey to healing from the abuse of my past. He began healing parts of my life that “it” had left mangled and desolate. He began to teach me that “it” does not have to go away, and so many years later, He was beginning to answer that short, desperate prayer I had long since stopped praying.

The healing came slowly, but He is such a patient Father. One day, as I was having a conversation with a dear friend and sister in Christ, she said something that had such a profound impact on me I nearly burst into tears in an instant. She was talking about 1 Timothy 1:7 which says, “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self control.” As she talked about this spirit of love given by God, she said, “you don’t have to make it go away because you are loved with that part of you.”

That truth…what freedom it brings. Walls I have built decades high in hopes of self protection were shattered the moment she spoke that to me. In that moment I realized I do not have to make it go away, because I am perfectly, wholly, beautifully loved…all of me…even the broken, shattered, messy part that bears the wounds of abuse.

I am perfectly, wholly, beautifully loved...all of me...even the broken, shattered, messy part... Click To Tweet

As I meditated on and considered this truth, I thought back to that verse that was once used to tell me that “it” didn’t matter and should be buried. That verse which was used in such a hurtful and harmful way was used in an incomplete way also. I realized that the old passing away does not mean the abuse disappears and does not matter or have an impact on my life. It highlights the the place where the present and the eternal touch. I am already made new. Yet, I live in this body affected by sin. I am called to renewal in the present while having already been made new in the eternal. The old that passes away…it doesn’t disappear. The old is the pieces God uses to make the new mosaic of me that reaches completion when my journey on this earth is finished, and I am home with my Abba Father in heaven for eternity.

I am already new in Christ, yet He is making me new each day. He sees the mosaic, the work He is doing in me, already completed in His eternal view, yet He is making the new mosaic out of the old broken pieces right now in the present. He doesn’t make the old disappear. He redeems it all while it is already redeemed. I don’t have to make “it” go away.

I think we all have an “it” if we’re really honest with ourselves. That one thing we feel we must hide or pretend isn’t there. The thing we have pushed so far down into the darkest parts of us we won’t even let God in. “It” could be something we have done, or something done to us, or a combination of both. That makes no difference. Whatever your “it,” you do not have to make it go away. You are perfectly, wholly, beautifully loved with it, whatever “it” may be. It may be old, but it does not disappear. God uses it to create in you the newness He already sees. He will meet you in the middle of the mess “it” has left behind. He redeems you with it. He loves you with it.

Please, if you are a victim of abuse, seek help. You are not alone, and do not need to stand alone. Allow others to walk with you, or even carry you through this. I pray you were blessed and challenged by Kelly’s words. Please continue to share her story so that others will experience this same freedom of living life being who they were created to be.

No Longer Broken

Stay SaneOctober 30, 2016

Ever feel like life just isn’t fair? Yeah me too. I’m just going along, minding my own business, doing the right thing because it’s the right thing, and then BAM!!! Life slams you down.

It could be the death of a parent,

…or spouse,

…or even a child.

Or it could be an unfaithful spouse.

Or an employer who has it out for you.

Or that investment that left you unable to retire,

…or homeless.

Or how about cancer, it could be that too.

Broken

The things that leave us feeling broken are tragedies out of our control, or things that have been done against us, or a result of our own mistakes.

Tragedies emphasis our lack of control in this life more than anything else. You don’t plan for car accidents, or cancer, or for the housing market to crash. And even though it is completely out of our control, it’s easy to to question ourselves and the Lord. We start to play the “what if” game. What if we had made different choices? But we didn’t, and we are unable to undo what has been done.

Wrongs done to us or against us make us want to scream against the injustice. It’s an attack, abuse, or assault. And even though it has been done to us by someone or something else, we feel responsible. Maybe if we hadn’t taken that risk, or chosen that mate, or followed that dream then we wouldn’t be in this position of feeling broken. We wouldn’t have to feel this pain or take the first of many steps on the journey of healing.

Or maybe our brokenness is because of poor choices. The guilt is heaviest here. How long do we have to suffer the consequences? How many times do we need to say we are sorry? Probably, at least one more time…

You have taken up my cause O Lord, you have redeemed my life.

Lamentations 3:58

Redeemed

To redeem is to either compensate for bad, or to gain something in exchange for payment. In our desire to find redemption, we find ourselves asking, “What good could ever come from this?”

Know The Lord sees your hurt. He hears your groans. Believe that He wants good things for you. Trust His timing, not yours.

Confess If your brokenness is due to mistakes you have made, admit them, and apologize. And if it is possible to remedy the wrong, then do so. Your brokenness has also resulted in the brokenness of others. By confessing and repenting, you will be aiding in their redemption as well. And then please be patient with them as they are healing. Forgiveness may have happened, but trust takes longer to return.

Hope Continue to long for better things. We live in a broken world full of sin. Yet our souls were created for eternity. There will always be a yearning for more or better. Long for Jesus. Hope for His peace

Trust In the bleak hours, trust that He will redeem your story. He is faithful.

Now I’m going to tell you what you don’t want to hear. I want to be honest with you, and not mislead you in any way. It may be that the Lord will not redeem your story in your lifetime. I know that is not what any of us want to accept. We need to know that our stories may not be for our own benefit, but for those to follow. As a follower of Christ, who believes in eternity, I know that my time on earth is a vapor, a mist, and then gone. But that doesn’t mean that my actions don’t continually affect others long after I am gone. The purpose of life is to glorify God, not myself, or to have an easy, carefree life.

I know there are women reading this who have lived through domestic abuse, sexual abuse, cancer, eating disorders, loss of loved ones, affairs, physical disabilities, addiction, loss of income and homes. The list goes on. At some point in our lives, all of our hearts have been broken. He will redeem your story, and though it may not be pretty, He will make it beautiful.

Dear lady, the Lord loves you fiercely, and pursues you fiercely. He sees your brokenness, and He cares. He will mend you. He will redeem you, and your story.

Broken, but God has redeemed me.

xoxo

Looking Deeper

Seeing Through the Mess

Lifting the Cover

Redemptive Stories

Bits of Brokenness…

A Therapeutic Process…

Castaways…

Their Trash, My Treasure…

Broken to Beautiful…

Precious Jewels…

Oh Lord Help Us…

All scripture references from The King James Version of The Bible

Response

The Correct Response

Redeemed, Not Perfect

His Glory

If you have found this inspiring, share the encouragement…

Broken, but God…has redeemed me.

Sinfulness

Forgiveness and Redemption

Radical Grace

True Righteousness

If you have found this inspiring, share the encouragement…

We are all sinful, having failed and fallen short. Praise the Lord for redemption through Christ!

Desperate: Self-Protection

Desperate: God’s Redemption

If you have found this inspiring, share the encouragement…

We all have messes in our lives. If we allow Him to, God will redeem our stories and make them beautiful.

Broken

You have taken up my cause O Lord, you have redeemed my life.

Redeemed

We are all sinful, having failed and fallen short.
Praise the Lord for redemption through Christ!

We all have messes in our lives.
If we allow Him to, God will redeem our stories and make them beautiful.