– By Lori Benka
I love going to Lake Erie and searching for beach glass. It’s always exciting to find something that was once so broken to become a treasure I seek after. I have three containers filled with pastel shades of green, white, aqua, blue, and brown. I proudly display each container in different areas amongst my home to enjoy.
One day, as I was looking at my treasured collection, I felt the Holy Spirit begin to speak to me about the process a piece of glass goes through to become beautiful. You see, beach glass is created when broken pieces of glass are tossed around by waves and currents among rocks and sand on the lake bottom. This can take for anywhere from 20 – 200 years. Eventually, it will wash ashore where we benefit from its beauty.
God creates the beauty of each piece of glass by allowing it to be tossed in the waves for a season to remove its rough edges. The pressure of the waves and storms cause the broken piece of glass to become beautiful and sought after.
What Does it Mean to Feel Broken?
Brokenness can take on different meanings depending on the context being used. You may feel broken from unrepented sin in your life. Your brokenness leads you to feel humility, repentance, and surrender. Oftentimes, you feel so broken you have nowhere else to go but on your knees in prayer. An example of this from the Bible would be David’s affair with Bathsheba. When the prophet Nathan confronts David about his sin, David confesses and turns from his sinful ways.
You may feel broken before God. You feel the weight of sin bearing down on you from yourself or the world and you realize that God is your only hope. With open hands and upraised arms you cry out to God desiring His presence to fill you. Psalm 51: 17-18 says:
Lastly, you may experience a sense of brokenness in other areas of your life. You might be experiencing the pain of losing a loved one, going through a divorce, or struggling with a wayward child. Some of you may be coping with an illness, fear, or anxiety. You feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders and you carry around a broken heart that seems unmendable.
Life can be hard and at times downright impossible to experience, but within its challenges lies the potential of spiritual growth, and ultimately, a deeper understanding of who God is and His purpose for your life.
Bible Verses To Reflect on When you Feel Broken
In your brokenness always remember that God is beside you holding you in His loving arms. He will take each broken piece of your life and make something beautiful from it. What you thought was going to kill you, will be used for His glory. When it seems like the weight of the world is upon you, remind yourself that God is in control. Every shattered area of your life will be made into something beautiful. Your pain is not wasted. God is taking your mess and creating your message.
Psalm 34:17-19
“The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all;”
To be crushed in spirit means a sense of holding back or being unable to relax in certain situations that remind you of the painful incident from the past. Your spirit feels numb, devoid of joy, and incapable of genuine emotion. This verse says that God saves you from this mental state. He is seeing you through your difficult circumstance.
“You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book”.
Not one of your tears goes unnoticed by God. He collects each one of them in a bottle. What a beautiful display of our Father’s love. Nothing we go through is wasted. God records every sorrow, every tear, and every painful event we go through.
“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.”
God will heal your broken heart. If He knows the number and names of each and every star, won’t He hear your cry for help and heal you?
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.”
God is with you whenever you face trials and difficulties in your life. He will never leave you or forsake you.
“Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up.”
How many of us have had to walk through seasons that were bitter and hard? You feel so broken that it feels like you are beyond repair. God is saying to you today that you WILL be restored. Don’t allow your circumstances to defeat you.
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
God’s power is made perfect in us in our weaknesses. It is when we are less that He becomes more. More of You, God, less of me. When we let go of our desires and our wills, He is able to work in our lives and bring us the victory we so desire.
God’s Artistry In Your Brokenness
God will create a beautiful masterpiece out of the broken areas of your life. While we only see the bottom, messy part of the tapestry, God looks from above and sees the beautiful piece of artwork He is creating from the ashes of your life.
Take courage and realize God sees you. You are not too far gone that He can’t reach down His loving arm and raise you up out of the dark pit you now find yourself in. He loves you more than you will ever know and nothing happening in your life has taken Him by surprise. He is calling your name and polishing off all of the rough, broken pieces of your life and making you into His beautiful masterpiece. You are created for something great and nothing can destroy the plans God has for you.
Conclusion
Life often presents us with various forms of brokenness, whether it stems from our own mistakes or challenging circumstances. It’s crucial to remember that God is intimately aware of our struggles and is actively involved in every aspect of our lives. Placing complete trust in God’s sovereignty and believing in His perfect plan for us is essential. With unwavering faith, we can experience the profound healing of a broken heart and a transformative renewal of our lives.
Find Joy In Today 
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