Encouragement
What do you do with broken things?
What do YOU do with broken things?
What about chipped things…slightly imperfect things?
Do you throw it away or repurpose it?
I was faced with that challenge.
We, Wayne and I, love, absolutely LOVE ‘TREASURE HUNTING” in thrift stores.
One afternoon, I gasped when I saw a gorgeous bowl sitting on an upper shelf in one of my favorite thrift stores.
I carefully pulled it down to enjoy the Winter scene of pheasants in flight. When I turned the bowl over it was a Lenox Riverwood bowl designed by Catherine McClung.
Now take a look at the other side.
Isn’t it beautiful!
It’s a large bowl with little pinches or notches along the edge that is painted to look like it was sewn. The pheasants, stark naked trees behind fence rails and the mountainous sky line makes it perfect for the cabin. It was a large bowl that could hold my family’s favorite chicken and sausage gumbo.
Perfect?
But when I turned the bowl, I discovered the bowl had a thumb sized chip was missing from one of the notches on the edge of the bowl. I decided I didn’t want it. (Who wants a broken bowl? Right?)
I checked the price online.
A “perfect” version of this bowl sold online for $50.00.
Every time we went into the thrift store I picked up the broken bowl and turned it around to view each scene on this marvelous translucent bowl.
When they marked it down to $2.50, I told myself I can turn the broken chip to the back side so no one will ever see the flaw.
Holding my beautiful bowl,
I began to think about the fact that no one wanted this beautiful bowl.
A Lenox bowl!
My favorite brand of dishes! One chip, one solitary broken place flawed its perfection. The person that originally bought it didn’t want it any longer. They got rid of it. They probably felt it was too valuable to trash; but not valuable enough to keep!
Even at such a cheap price no one wanted it…until I came along.
Precious Holy Spirit began to talk to me.
It’s tragic that sometimes people are treated like that broken bowl. Strangers, friends and relatives, sometimes close ones, are judged
by their circumstances, choices, sins and labeled flawed–BROKEN.
Broken
Because they are broken, they are;
- Rejected.
- Unusable.
- Un-loveable.
- Inadequate.
- Unfit.
- Ineligible.
- Unworthy.
God is a re-purposer.
The perfectionist would be mortified at the thought of using something broken…but God loves broken people.
The Davids that murdered,
the Sarahs that lied,
the Peters that denied
all re-purposed
redeemed by God’s grace.
God doesn’t use flawed people because of their mistakes, but in spite of them.
He uses them, He uses us, because
He loves us…even when we have brokenness in our past! He loves us too much to leave us broken.
As we submit to His TRUTH and His Word, the power of the cross transforms us, redeems us, re-purposes us and makes us brand new.
Don’t allow your past to define you!
Even more tragic than what someone else thinks of our brokenness, is the results that come in a person’s life when we believe the whispered lies of the enemy that tell us that because we are broken, we are worthless.
Listen close.
I want to tell you, no matter how big you have failed, God has never, ever, not even for a single second, stopped loving you!
God loves you.
If you’ve failed in
business,
your marriage
parenting
or in life in general–
God wants to redeem what you’ve lost and use you in His big plan.
He longs to pull you close and breathe new life into your heart.
It might look different than you envisioned. Believe me when I tell you that God re-purposes and redeems our brokenness!
He has a good plan for your life.
He loves you too much to leave you in your sin.
Sin robs us.
Surrender to God, turning from our ways to embrace Truth sets us free to experience what God has for us!
I realize that some mistakes we make leaves scars!
Sin has consequences!
But don’t underestimate the power of the cross!
Don’t under value the transforming power of redemption in a person’s life!
When we submit, repent and then give ourselves with any and all broken places, broken hearts and broken dreams to Jesus, He re-purposes them.
And He loves, LOVES to use broken people.
We are all flawed human beings that need Jesus.
We need Him not just to save us from Hell, but to enable us to fulfill our God ordained purpose.
There are some things that I know for certain about you.
God wants to partner with you to pour His love into people around you.
You can’t give what you won’t receive.
So simply receive His forgiveness, grace and love; then give it away.
Believe God wants to and will use you.
Dealing with a broken person?
Before I close, maybe you’re not broken,
but you are dealing with a broken person.
Stop looking at the broken place in their life. Turn that broken place away from your critical view. Love them enough to see their beauty, their value. Speak life over them. Offer them hope instead of condemnation. Tap into God’s Love, Wisdom and Patience, instead of limiting yourself to what you currently possess.
Instead of tying a string around your finger…
find a chipped plate or bowl, (A perfectionist might need to borrow one.) set it on your table.
Let it be a reminder
that God redeems and repurposes the bad things in your or that person you are struggling to love. When you bow your head to pray over your food, thank God for cleansing and redeeming you from your sins and mistakes. Or you may want to use it as a visual aid to share your story of redemption with someone at the table!
Let me pray with you…
Father, thank you for my beautiful, chipped bowl. Thank you for my readers. I believe there are readers today that need to surrender some broken things in their life to you, dear God. Father, give them peace. Help them to receive your grace, your love and your purpose for their lives and to hope with new clarity because their hope is in you.
Help them to receive your joy and to guard their thoughts and believe Truth instead of the lies of the enemy! Amen.
Thank you for reading my posts. Thank you for joining me at my table as I share treasures that God is sharing with me.
This is an awesome word. I am reminded of a Preacher who said “God never uses a person until He breaks them first.” I really appreciate your Ministry. I remember you telling me that God takes us through the “winter” on this journey sometimes. I appreciate you and Thank you for you ministry.
Hello Bro. Mike. It is great to hear from you. Thank you for your kind remarks. I sure appreciate you reading the post. God bless you richly!
It was good to see you guys. After you left I read this. Thanks! Very uplifting! I believe it with all my heart ☺ Safe travels! Love you!