Sometimes a song speaks directly to me. Today I heard Matt Redman’s “Gracefully Broken” at North Point. And these two words vibrated life, truth, and grace throughout me.
Because that is what we all are – broken.
We lose our wholeness, our identity, our security, and our freedom to sin.
By our reckless choices. By our selfish whims. By our careless words.
Yet God loves a broken heart, a broken life, and a broken mind.
Because that is the place God starts to lavishly pour out His extravagant grace.
And His grace takes our selfishness, our sinfulness, and our self-righteousness and breaks them completely.
But He never leaves us where we are or how we are.
He has every intention of recreating us – with more integrity, more compassion, more selflessness, more mercy, more forgiveness, more generosity, and more understanding.
“3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. 4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make” (Jeremiah 18:3-4).
You are the clay vessel, waiting to be shaped and directed into a more beautiful form.
You are cracked and scarred by your experiences and (unmet) expectations. Your outer form has been weakened by disappointment, disagreement, and disillusionment. You have picked yourself up from every trial, every temptation, and every turbulent circumstance – but you feel your value and worth have been diminished and so you feel unworthy and insignificant.
But today hear God say He knows you, every crack and every scratch. And He still loves you unconditionally. He loves you so much He wants to help you unleash the potential He placed inside you and become the new vessel He created you to be.
And when you are ready and come to Him, He will gently pick you up – making sure to collect every broken piece – and begin to recreate you into something more beautiful. And He will smile, because your new self “seemed good to the potter to make”.
So allow yourself to be His stained glass window of grace. Bring all your seemingly ugly and useless pieces to Him – and watch Him bring life, purpose, and glory to them.
For the Father will do miracles with whatever you give Him. So give Him your ALL. Then step back and watch grace recreate and repurpose every broken piece into a healthy and glorious whole.
Marie Fremin. 1/21/18, 1/27/18, 2/18/18
Marie's Hope 