From bruised & broken...

Maybe I should have titled the name of this post, "Being a nobody that God can use." 
There are many women in the Bible that would have considered themselves a "nobody."  If we began from Genesis, the list would be extensive.  

We all have been there; you know, in that place of feeling inadequate, unworthy, bruised and broken, both emotionally and spiritually.   And in this throw away world, broken things are no longer needed, ignored, set aside and thrown out.   Anything considered damaged or unwanted is rejected and sadly that includes people (and the unborn).  

Today it has become easy to reject a pregnancy, a marriage that a person feels unhappy in, or to walk away from the responsibility that comes with being a parent.  When the situation breaks down, people have the tendency to just walk away or end the situation instead of working it out toward reconciliation.    

This world is full of people who are bruised and broken...broken hearts and a broken spirit.
​  ​But yet we remember...

“The Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18).
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Feeling bruised & broken?  
The woman at the well was a broken woman who was seeking.  She had been married five times and was now on affair number six. She was lonely and for sure rejection filled her soul. But all her longings were quench when she met Jesus at the well that day!
You can read of this thirsty woman in John 4.  

Around noon, when no one else is around, she goes to the well and there is a man sitting there.   He speaks to her and asks for a drink of water.  Why would He speak with her, a Samaritan woman?  

He knew her past, her present, and yet He loves her.   His eyes are searching her heart,  she sees her own reflection in His eyes.  

What she needs is not found in the well water...it is found in the Messiah! 
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"If you knew the gift God has for you, and Who it is that is speaking to you..."   Vs.10

A bruised and broken woman was speaking with the Messiah!  What she needed was to be found in Him.  She took the Living Water that He offered -  gone was the shame and the brokenness.  From now on she will not be known by her ugly past and bruises, but by her faith.   

To the world, broken things are despised and to be thrown away, but to God, we are priceless.   God takes what is broken and remakes us into something beautiful and blessed. He takes those broken by sin and cleanses us and makes us new.   We are His. 
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God sent His Son, who was without sin,  to be broken so that we might be cleansed of our sin.  "This is my body, which is broken for you."    Yes, Christ went to Calvary to die so we may be cleansed and healed.   Without His broken and bruised body, we could not be made clean, beautiful and blessed.  

​"He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our sin; the punishment that brought peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are  healed." (Isaiah 53:5).

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We must never be ashamed of our brokenness and bruises.  
​These scars and bruises that have healed over through Christ,  show the broken times of your life.  They now can be used to tell an amazing story of recovery! 
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Please know that we cannot pray enough, do enough good deeds or give enough money to heal ourselves and wash the past sin away.  There is nothing we can do to heal our bruises and brokenness.  Only Christ can take what is rejected and broken and make it beautiful and new again. 

Today, may you ask Christ to make you beautiful and blessed!   
I don't mind smiling and proudly stating that "Yes!  I was a bruised and broken nobody!"