Brokenness...

Many years ago, I had a babysitter that would stay with my children after school until I arrived home from work.   One day, as we chit-chatted in the kitchen, she commented on the pretty pink glass dish that I was washing.   "Oh, I bought an entire set, and best of all, they are unbreakable," I confidently stated.   Wanting to show her that it was really unbreakable, I dropped the dish onto the tile floor.  As it hit the floor, it broke and scattered into a hundred tiny pieces, and we both gasped and stood silent with eyes wide open.   I was certain that when it hit the floor, it would not break.  But I was mistaken. 

That day reminds me of the fact that we so often feel confident in our ability to carry out the day to day demands, confident in our job, confident in our bank account, confident in our friends, confident in the way we are living,  or confident in our material assets. 

We are SO confident in our life, that when suddenly a situation stops us in our tracks and shatters our life... we feel totally broken.  Oh, how I pray that each one of us will be sure that when that day of brokenness comes (and it will), that we will be prepared spiritually. That we will be prepared to say, "Here Lord, I cannot do this, I give it to You." 

So often I exchange words and emails with women who are "there."   They have arrived at that moment of brokenness and are desperate for answers.  
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How do I assure them that God see's their tears and understands their suffering? 

As they tell me of their broken life, how do I become the hands and feet of Christ to them? 

I hope to help them see with their heart, that whatever God gives us, He will give us the spiritual strength to survive.   

​If we can see this life as a gift of grace, if we can surrender our life to Him and all that comes our way... we can survive.    

Even though we do not know what the future may bring we can find inner comfort in His promises.  I have written in the past, about hiding His promises within us, so in our time of brokenness we can pull them out of our heart and mind, and rest on His promises.   Daily I ask Him to pick  up the shattered pieces and hold my life together.   As He holds my life together, I in turn can reach out to that woman whose face I cannot see in my email and share her brokenness. 
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Christ within us can enable us to move on through the circumstance, as a sacrifice to Him.  When we see our life as His, we can survive.   

On October 2nd, I watched my husband leaned up against the wall, and slowly collapsed to the floor.  As he slid down that wall, his eye's were fixed, looking right through me.  He did not reply to my words, his mouth was frozen crooked and at that moment I was shattered. 

In the minutes that passed, I wondered...will my husband know me? 
Will he be physically whole?  Will I ever hear him speak to me again in this life? 

In those minutes I wanted to burst into tears, but in those minutes I spoke silently to God and asked for Him to mend my brokenness.  I asked, "Hold me together, Lord.  My husband needs me to think clearly in this moment."  Only through His spiritual strength within me, could I think and act focused on what needed to be done. I knew HE felt my desperation and heartache.   I am just an ordinary woman, alone I can do nothing; but with Christ I am a woman of faith that can cling to His strength. 

As I kissed my husband before they rolled him away into surgery,  I said, "Remember His right hand."  We had both talked and prayed about "His right hand" in the days prior to this moment.   Two hours later, as a nurse walked me down a hallway that seemed a mile long,  I could hear my husband's voice!   My husband has a very distinct deep voice, and he was saying,  "Remember His right hand."    Here came the tears of relief even before I saw my husbands face. 

Isaiah 41:13   For I the LORD your God will hold your right hand, saying to you, FEAR NOT; I will help you. 

​When we release our brokenness to Christ, we can survive.
We are assured that He will make all things work out for His glory (not our own will).  At times the outcome may not be what we may have desired, but it is His will for us.   

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So hand Him your brokenness.  

As women of faith, when we share our brokenness with each other, we live a life in Christ that helps hold hearts and lives together.  Sister's in Christ are such a blessing!

God desires for us to bear each others burdens and brokenness.  Together we encourage and enable one another to move on through the brokenness.  


Lord,  I pray for the women reading this right now. 
Each of us have our own brokenness.  But yet through You, we are bonded for eternity. 
By Your sacrifice on the cross, we can come to You and we can be made whole. 
Because You live within us,  You enable us to live through brokenness. 
As we share our brokenness as sister's in Christ, You enable us to stand strong in this life, together.
We are ordinary women, who hand You our brokenness. . . for we are not beaten, we are held together by Your love and strength.  We thank You for taking our brokenness and moving us on. 
In the name of Jesus I pray,  Amen. 

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I leave you with these promises to hide in your heart and mind:

​Psalm 34:18
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Psalm 147:3   He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds.