Brokenness

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day and a great week coming to a close for you!

On Tuesday - as I was working out and having my time of prayer, lifting family, friends & those I have told I would pray for up...just spending time with God - this overwhelming thought, feeling hit me; everyone is broken. Every one of us has some sort of struggle, pain, hurt, regret, etc...something that we battle in our lives. The brokenness, the struggles are vastly different and yet in everyone's life there is something. Insecurity, poor self-image, pain caused by a relationship, a careless, thoughtless - untrue - word spoken into a life years ago that took root in the heart, financial struggles, unfulfilled promises, dreams unpursued, worry, fear, regret...

As I thought of this it wasn't a helpless, overwhelmed feeling, it was simply a recognition of life. Life is hard; we live in a broken world & we are born with a sin nature. People fail us - intentionally & unintentionally, we put unrealistic expectations on ourselves, we chase unfulfilling things to fill the void in our hearts, etc. No, it wasn't helpless or overwhelming; it was a moment of great understanding wrapped in the the knowledge that while everyone's life has value, meaning & purpose for which they are perfectly equipped, there are hurts, pains & struggles that must be overcome in order to grow to the fullness and maturity of what we were created to become.

As I have thought more and more about this, I wanted to share just a couple of thoughts with you about it:
1. Grace - Please give - to yourself and others - great grace. So you have a problem, challenge, struggle, etc.? Everyone does. Please don't beat yourself up over it, you are not hopeless, you are not a failure, etc. You are normal. Likewise, that person that really irritates you, makes you mad, makes poor choices, etc. Ah, they are just like you and me. There life also has value, meaning & purpose for which they are perfectly equipped and they too have hurts, pains & struggles. Just like you and me. Please Friends, please give great grace to yourself and others.

2. You know what I think one of the great differences is between all of us? The stage we are in our healing. There are the extremes of the gaping open wound of not having even realized yet the brokenness that causes such pain to the one's who are well on the road to healing in knowing their brokenness, who know Who's they are and who they are and who strive to become the best they are capable of becoming each and every day in spite of their brokenness, their pain. In between we find all sorts of characters. We find those who try, desperately, to pretend, hide, cover up, etc. their brokenness. It may appear as false bravado (hiding insecurity or fear), wearing way too revealing clothing (trying to get a man, any man, to provide the love that a father never did), doing things that violate their own hearts, minds, bodies & spirits (trying to finally be accepted somebody) and possibly the saddest of all are those who are just plain mean & nasty (hiding who knows what...mad at the world, mad at life, never fully giving or accepting love). See Friends, we all have something. None of us, in spite of our best efforts to prove otherwise, have it all figured out, walk without pain, without affliction. Sadly, the wound(s) won't heal until we recognize them, admit them (a whole lot of us get stuck here), deal with them and then embrace the perfectly equipped life of value, meaning & purpose we are created to live.

I think God has a great sense of humor. Somewhere around Wednesday or so, this thought, this idea hit me (God is good at that you know!). When someone cut me off in traffic, was rude to me, etc. I would lift them up in prayer. Not for anything particular - IE not that they would become a better driver! - but rather for their hearts, that God would meet them wherever they are on their life journey today, that He would should favor and blessing in their life. It was amazing. I would have that original reaction of "What?!?!", and then all of the sudden I would feel this softening in my heart, I would stop and think, "Kevin, they are hurting, broken, struggling, just like you." I would then say a prayer for them, genuinely wanting great good to come to them in their lives. Suddenly, I didn't care that they cut me off, I sincerely was just hoping they would get wherever they were going safely. I didn't care any more that they had been rude to me; I hoped that their families would be o.k., that their dreams would come true, that they would be happy - truly happy - to the depths of their heart and spirit.

This is the challenge I would like to offer all of us today; knowing that we are all broken, that we all have struggles, I would like to challenge us all - if just for today - to really slow down and pray (if you are not a praying person, send positive thoughts...pure-heartedly!!) for those who cut you off, offend you, make you mad, etc. Please, try it today. I think you might be surprised by how you feel, how you look at life and how it affects you.

Please let me know if there is ever anything I can do for you or your families. I truly would consider it an honor & privilege to help you any way I can.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please cherish your precious families.

Kev