Broken Places | NEXT MINISTRIES

Shattered like glass you will find so many unhealed broken places in the lives of people around you. I know a pastor who found Mother’s Day to be one of the most painful days of the year. While the day means so much to many of us, it reminded him of how he was rejected by a mother who never wanted him. His pain was real. Just imagine a person who is supposed to bring hope to people by directing them to One who gives hope and brings healing to our lives is broken; a life that is shattered and unable to receive healing because of how deep their pain is.

A young lady who went to church, sang in the choir, was an active member, and had been active in youth group, found herself having to share with her church family that she was pregnant and not married. The church family that was supposed to surround her with love during this difficult time of uncertainty shunned her and stripped her of everything that connected her to church other than the ability to show up. Relationships that she treasured were broken. A connection with God was shattered with no hope of restoration in her mind.

There are so many stories of brokenness in the world around us. In the stories of these two people their brokenness defined them. Their brokenness created a separation that was never meant to be. We are all broken in one form or another. Maybe we did not have the childhood we wished we had. Maybe our marriage is not what we thought it would be. Maybe we have struggles with our children, with addiction, or with love. There are things that happen in our life that utterly shatter us, but we do not have to live in our brokenness.

There was a couple that got married several years ago. The husband was broken in so many ways. At the wedding reception, he did the unexpected. He shared that he had been through a lot of stuff that had broken him. Teary eyed, he shared that his wife saved him. He was standing before us because she saved him. It was love that redefined him. At the center of that love was God.

Love changes us. When we allow ourselves to be loved in our brokenness we can experience great breakthroughs in our life. Peter wrote in a letter to Christians that were experiencing rejection in their community, “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8 NIV). Love saves lives. Love looks beyond all of the bad and messed up stuff in our lives and sees all of the good redeemable beauty that lies within us.

God loved us enough to ask his son to sacrifice his life so that we could live. We do not have to live in the death of our brokenness because in his love Christ already died for us. The hurt, if we allow ourselves to experience healing, has already been conquered for us because of love. We do not have to live in the pain of rejection because we are loved. Paul wrote to the people in the church in Rome about this great love, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39 NIV). Step into a new place in your life where you can fully experience the love that is meant for you. If you make that step, you will find the love of God reaching out to you through the love of people whom God will send into your life.

Pastor Mike