Here is a post I made long ago in 2010. It expresses the way I can still feel.....seemingly broken yet actually whole, seemingly unlovely yet actually loved! So I wanted to repost it..
I belong to the church of the broken. We're the mixed-up and confused, the failures, the ones whose lives sometimes get too messy for other people to handle, the ones who'll never totally get it "together." We're the ones who've been through pain. Who've been hurt by the world and have cried out at times, "My God, why have You forsaken me?" The ones who don't measure up and have pretty much given up trying to.
Yes, we've given up trying and trying to measure up. Why? Because we've met Someone who accepts us as we are. Someone who chased us down the dark corridors of our lives and reached out to us as we huddled, scared and lonely and crying in some corner - and held us.
We've been overtaken by a love we can't understand, a love that doesn't fit our paradigms, a love that loves the unlovely and accepts the unacceptable. This is His church. The church of the broken AND LOVED.
Our Friend has overwhelmed us and tackled us with His passionate love. He has made all the difference. Why? He doesn't see our mess. He doesn't see our mistakes. He only sees innocent little children, loved, valued and accepted by Him. Our problems aren't so big to Him, since He's All-mighty. With Him close beside us, we feel safe again. We feel strong again. We feel beautiful again. We feel whole again. We feel hopeful again!
We have discovered a secret: it's okay to be broken. It's okay to be as broken and hurting and confused as we really are in our human lives, because He is going to be as Strong and Compassionate and Victorious as He really is in His resurrection Life! Our lives, humanly speaking, may not look so good. But it doesn't matter, because HE'S our REAL LIFE!
He's the only One we need. He's the One who has to be strong, not us. He's the One who has to have it together, not us. We're leaning on Him and we're upheld EVERY TIME! Broken yet beautiful. Confused yet carried. down yet up! Feeling dead yet ALIVE!
Isn't that a great revelation? That no matter how messed up our lives may be, we are whole in Him! And He pours infinite wholeness into all the broken places of our lives. It doesn't ever matter how weak we are or how bad our problem is, for HE perfect in us and is infinitely sufficient for every need we have - He handles every single thing we face! HE is our wholeness, our sufficiency, our perfection, and He IS that right in the midst of our mess! We don't have to clean ourselves up for Him to come; He HAS come and He is here to be with us in the mess and take care of it for us.
Jesus loves us broken ones. And He comes through for us. He fights for us, wins for us! And we find in the midst of our brokenness that He has made us whole!
I love being in the church of the broken..yet loved..and accepted..and carried..and triumphant..and whole!
