Broken

Several years ago I did this Bible study with my friend Joanna called No Other gods by Kelly Minter. Whoa. This is not a lightweight, no ma’am. It is a heavy-hitter! That is, if you WANT it to be. I have found, as I'm sure many of you have, that something is only as "deep" as you want it to be...but I am going deep, because there are issues in my life that need gutting.

That said, listen to this quote from page 64 of No Other gods regarding
God's "brand of beauty:"

"A healed relationship or person can reflect more glory than one who never knew brokenness."
(emphasis mine)

Okay, I thought. Broken doesn't necessarily mean pulverized...then I looked it up in the dictionary. (Yes, I'm a "word nerd," and I love doing this.) Broken: 1. NO LONGER WHOLE, in two or more pieces e.g. after having been dropped or hit with something hard.

Um, yah. Have you ever dropped a glass bowl? It shatters in a million pieces! (Especially on a tile floor... not like I would know anything about that personally...) Ahem.

My favorite book (next to the Bible) is my Synonym Finder. Why they don't just call it a thesaurus I don't know. Anyway...I checked out broken, and here are some synonyms:

Shattered. Smashed. Crushed. Mangled. Pulverized. Ruptured. Torn. Damaged. Destroyed.
I will tell you a few things my friends, first of all, I'm pretty darn sure that all of us have felt like one of these words in our lives...maybe recently. Maybe as recently as last week...maybe, right now.

Second, always remember that with God: "We are hard pressed on every side, but NOT crushed; perplexed, but NOT in despair, persecuted, but NOT abandoned, struck down but NOT DESTROYED." II Corinthains 4:9

Once again, the WORLD'S definition of something and GOD'S definition are completely different. The world says if you are broken, you are destroyed. GOD says, if you are broken, HIS glory will be revealed. HIS STRENGTH will be made perfect in YOUR WEAKNESS. He is making you a new creation...He loves you too much to let you grow complacent.

I am preaching to the choir here, folks. I will be the first to admit that I stumble under adversity.. But God knows that sometimes when I am on the mountain top, I get lost looking at the view, and not reflecting upon that which put me on the top. So He keeps giving me the "valley view" until I get it. I'm not sure that I will ever COMPLETELY get it...I mean, come on, what fun would that be?

Lest I digress, let's get back to the quote. Did you ever wonder what our purpose was on this earth? Very simple. To glorify God. Some people I know can do that in an amazing way without have to go down the wrong road, or without suffering. Most do not. "A healed person or relationship"....that doesn't necessarily mean physical healing, but it certainly could. How magnificent when a believer goes to the doctor, only to find that the cancer that was there IS NO MORE? That is GLORY, my friends. Much more than if that person never got cancer in the first place!

However, God can reveal His glory in the same way when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and do it with HIS Strength! If you knew of someone that God healed of cancer, it would be a huge WOW factor. And God would get HUGE glory. But for how long? Would we forget, like the Israelites, who seemed to forget so quickly that God parted the Red Sea for them? But what about the person who quietly walks through their disease with God, day after day, moment after moment, constantly reflecting Him? (And I'm soooo not saying that's me, because there's not much quiet about me! I go along, but many times kicking and screaming!!)

Now on to a really sticky subject, but one very close to my heart: Does God SEND disease? I believe, sometimes, He does. This is one thing I know more than anything else in my being: GOD WILL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO BRING YOU CLOSER TO HIM.

And I mean whatever. Some things He allows to befall us, but I truly and completely believe that other things He Himself sends to us, so that we can grow closer to Him, and so that His glory will be revealed. Some of us (and I mean ME) are so stubborn we don't get the more subtle hints and need the "big guns." And when this happens, my friends, you will never be the same again. 

Letter To God: About A Son

Abba Father, 

I have a son.  I don’t know how you did it!  I don’t think I could.  I think of Abraham, who so obediently put Isaac on the altar, Father.  I know You knew he wouldn’t have to do it, and I have to believe Abraham had crazy faith that You would provide an alternative.

But Father, I don’t think I could have done it!  My son!  My only son?  I’ve always known You loved me.  But I didn’t have one iota of just how much until I became a parent.  That love…that love a mother has for her child.  It’s amazing, Lord God. It’s above and beyond anything I’ve ever known.  That sweet, precious love of a child.

But you knew that Love too.  You know that Love.  And yet…. You allowed Him to be given up.  You let Your One and Only leave the perfectly perfect setting of Heaven, and go down to the world You created together.  To live.  And to die.  Fully human.   

And yet, always, fully God.  Born to a virgin.  Crucified.

Dead.

And buried.

Oh, God!  How could You have withheld your Arm of Might against those who shouted, “Crucify Him!”  How did You not smite them all with one flick of your finger? 

And yet…. I already know the answer to the question.  Because of Your intense, perfect Love.  For me.  For all who believe…for all who do not. You did it for all of us. Father, that You gave up Your precious Son, to be mocked, and beaten, and maimed to within an inch of His very life; Oh the Love! 

Once and forever, The Son of God hung on a tree for all men, for all time.  Every sin, past, present and future was paid for by the Precious Blood of the Lamb.  Oh, thank you Jesus. 

I think, “How could anyone have been screaming and yelling for the death of an innocent man?”  And yet…How could I know?  How can I ever know what I would have said on that very day?  I cannot!  Therefore, I cannot assume I would not become like Simon Peter.  He may not have yelled “Crucify Him!” but he denied You…three 

times in one night.   

Is there really a difference? 

I praise you, Father, that that is not the end of the story.  Three days of total separation went by.  I cannot imagine Your grief.  You and Your Perfect Child had been together since…well, since before forever began.  You are literally part of the same Being!  And then, for three days…nothing.  It must have felt like eternity.

That third day.  Oh, Glory!  Your Son, robed in Power, broke the very hold of death itself to Rise Again!  Hallelujah!  The angels sang!  The heavens rejoiced!  And people like me, people everywhere, were given new life. 

Father, there is nothing adequate I can give You for giving up Your Child.  I could die for my son.  I could probably even kill for his life…But could I give it up?  Father, let me never have to make that decision.

I praise You and thank you and offer You the only thing I have to give…myself.  My life.  In the shadow of the cross, troubles grow small.  Worries fade.  Burdens lighten.

And my soul sings:

“So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross;
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it someday for a crown.

In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
A wondrous beauty I see,
For ‘twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,
To pardon and sanctify me.

So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it someday for a crown.

To the old rugged cross I will ever be true;
Its shame and reproach gladly bear;
Then He’ll call me some day to my home far away,
Where His glory forever I’ll share.

So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it someday for a crown.”

I praise you Father.

In Loving Adoration,

Your Daughter