So the week between Christmas and New Year’s I did something I have never done my whole life. I broke a bone, well technically two bones!
Yep, I broke my arm at my wrist roller skating with my kids and kids from our youth group at church. In fact, it was my pastor who had the pleasure of driving me 40 minutes to the base hospital. Now that is shepherding under dire circumstances!
I have and am continuing to learn new things and rediscover some not so nice things about myself during this stressful time. It is amazing to me how God uses everything that we go through in life for our benefit if we will only let Him.
Now, I don’t think I have to tell you that breaking my arm was not part of my New Year resolutions nor was it anywhere on my calendar for the next 8 plus weeks! Surgery definitely was not in my plans, yet that was exactly where I found myself this past week.
Wow. My circumstances hit me hard. I was broken. Literally.
Thankfully, though, I quickly realized that it is in our brokenness that God speaks.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted. Psalms 34:18 says,
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
And in Psalms 51:17, David cries
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Yes, my arm is broken but God had some things to teach and show me about brokenness in some areas of my life. He used and is using the broken arm to bring to the surface some things that I was not surrendering to Him. Ouch. The pain of the arm pales in comparison when I see the stubbornness of my sin before my Holy Lord.
The Psalms bring hope to the stubborn who allow God to break their spirits and hearts in submission before Him. He saves those who are brokenhearted and He loves those whose hearts are broken before Him.
Wives, I came to and continue to come to this point of surrender before God in cicumstances and aspects of my marriage. It is an inward self-focused look that my broken state leads. It really isn’t about my husband or my situation. It is about me, my husband’s wife and my heart. I need to be broken where sin is so that grace may abound.
Then, victorious I can emerge because of He who lives in me!
The cry of my heart, broken and contrite before God is this, borrowed from the psalmist:
Praise the LORD. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him! The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit. The LORD sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground. Psalm 147:1-6
Intentionally broken to live free! Hallelujah. No steel plates or screws required!
♥ Kim
From google.com via Pinterest
It is from brokenness, my God has done the greatest works in my life. It is from brokenness, I learned to truly live and it is from brokenness that I learned my God takes what is broken and shattered and turns it into a masterpieces like a stained glass window that is made of pieces and parts of broken, colored glass…each one alone is just a piece of colored glass but when the maker puts it all together and binds them together with love it is so beautiful and cast beauty on all that view it when the SUN shines through it.
Thelma that is beautiful. Being broken before A Holy God is humbling to say the least but we must allow God to break our hearts as we allow Him to transform us to His perfect Image! A lesson I seem to learn over and over as I submit my stubborn will to Him :/ Keep displaying the beauty of our God before others — blessings, Kim