Image Credit: Martin Liebermann/PhotopinCC
In life there are a few scenarios that will inevitably play out.
We’ll meet with success.
We’ll have a few stumbles.
We’ll keep going even when common sense tells us to quit.
We may even bend, but we will not break—at least not completely.
Don’t get me wrong. I believe in brokenness. In fact, God’s word gives specific examples of broken men and women in vivid, colorful detail so I’m not debating this.
I’m speaking more from a What about when you think you’re broken, but you’re really not? viewpoint.
In other words, what about when your belief of brokenness hijacks your mindset in such a way you lose objectivity and motivation?
I believe all of us can recall those life points where our will floundered and our resolve cracked. I know I sure can!
And yet…
What about those times you felt damaged—beyond repair—but God said No. Not this time, my child. You may bend, but I won’t let you break.
Whatever your “thing” is today—be it a dream, a goal, writing, a creative pursuit or a perceived catastrophe—there are others who’ve been where you’re at. Others who’ve envisioned hope extinguished and without merit.
Often, when we’re under the dark cloud of discouragement, it’s difficult to see a pinprick of sunlight. We refuse to believe something good is just around the corner. It’s a way to insulate ourselves from the possibility of maybe.
To acknowledge others have faced the same kind of dejection and not only survived, but flourished, is somehow too optimistic. We’d rather do or believe anything than think we might have to bend to the point of almost breaking.
Why?
Because bending is scary!
To this day, I remember almost every nuance of my son’s life-changing surgeries.
With dramatic clarity, I can recall the Thanksgiving holiday four days before that time.
What we ate. What we talked about. Even the jeans I wore.
It was crisp and sunny the morning of that first surgery. While other folks greeted the day with coffee and the morning news, I thought my mama-heart would surely break.
How much more, God? I prayed. How much more?
Please…let the surgeon find no evidence of cancer, ulcerative colitis, or anything else that might necessitate the need for this radical procedure… Don’t you see he’s just a boy?
I can still visualize the miniature red Christmas tree—a gift from his aunt—that decorated my son’s hospital room. How the pretty lights twinkled against the backdrop of a morphine pump and IV fluids. How surreal the next ten days seemed.
If this isn’t broken, God, then I don’t know what is...
As I poured out silent words of sorrow, somewhere in the midst of it all, my thoughts began to shift.
I gained a fresh perspective. God renewed my strength.
I was bent—badly, perhaps—but I refused to be broken.
What began eleven years ago as a journey of doubt, I recognize today as a sojourn to deeper faith. (You can read more here if you missed that post.)
Was it hard? Yes.
Improbable? Almost.
Impossible? To the logical mind—but not to the Giver of Life.
So…
Why will you do your thing?
Because there is no other way.
Because supernatural hope can’t be tamped down, snuffed out, or denied with Christ at the helm.
Bent may hurt a little. Sometimes a lot.
But just when you think you’re broken, God will put your fear into perspective… and He will grant you the resolve to go again.
Being scared, bandaged, and bent will not break you.
It’s your precursor to broken—the place you’re just visiting. Not the place you’ll live.
***
And now to put some steam in your new train of thought, don’t miss this story via Fox News.
(Read and be blessed!)
Additional Words of Encouragement:
10 Triumphant Truths of Who You really Are
How to Thrive Despite the Odds
Don’t Compare Your Productive Season to Someone Else’s
PLEASE SHARE
This is the place you’re just visiting—not the place you’ll live. (Click to Tweet)
Hurting, heartsick, or confused? Here’s the encouragement you need today! (Click to Tweet)
Have you been bent or nearly broken?
How did God change your mindset?
Do you need prayer today? How might we pray for you?
Love you in Jesus, friends!
Blessings Always,
Comments 4
I don’t really believe in ‘broken’, in the contemporary parlance. We’re a lot more resilient than we think we are, and often “I can’t go on” means “I don’;t WANT to”.
There is another definition of broken. I’ve seen it, and it’s not pretty. It arises when unspeakable things are done to unsuspecting people, the casual cruelties of war or the focused cruelties of insurrection. And when I say ‘unspeakable’ I mean just that. You don’t want to contemplate them over breakfast.
For myself…well, I remember a week in a hospital after a surgery went horribly wrong. I was bleeding out, and they couldn’t stop it. I remember laying on my stomach on the hospital bed, wondering what had happened, and where my life had gone. It seemed like there had never been any other reality but the IVs and the transfusions and the hospital smell of antiseptic and other things.
But I wasn’t broken. I was just a bit inconvenienced, and things returned to normal after awhile. A long while.
Today…well, it was another night without sleep, and my first thought on facing the day is “this is gonna hurt”. And it will.
But the pain will be a passing thing, a cloud that may momentarily dim the sunlight of God’s love – but only momentarily.
Author
Andrew, I know you, too, have walked the road of perseverance and I’m so very sorry you’ve endured so much.
I’m praying abundant blessings of healing and hope for you!
This is exactly what I needed to hear today. Thank you, Cynthia. Much love …
Author
Shelli, glad it blessed you! And much love to you, my dear!