Feeling Broken? 7 Truths to Lift Your Head
I’m rushing to make the house presentable before slipping out the door for a Wednesday night meeting. It seems I can’t stop the frenzy of hurry that’s overtaken my body. I have no way of knowing this flurry of activity is about to be a hard lesson on what to do when you start feeling broken in life.
I hurriedly shove a white porcelain cup on top of a clumsy stack of plastic children’s dishes, and then it happens.
The cup slides straight out of the cabinet and onto the kitchen floor.
It breaks into a handful of tiny pieces, white shards that threaten soft little feet.
I hear the feet patter toward the commotion and bark a sharp command about staying in the living room.
Picking up the pieces with the focus of a woman on a life-saving mission, I double-bag them in the garbage can and race to the basement for the vacuum cleaner. When I ascend the stairs, the little one is standing in the center of the kitchen. His bare feet are inches from the razor-like pieces of porcelain.
When You’re Feeling Broken
As the stress hormones surge through my body, I forget all about gentle parenting and yell, “What are you doing in here? I told you to stay out of this room!”
It’s all in the name of protection, but there’s no denying I’m yelling in frustration.
Instead of obeying my command, our little boy folds onto the floor in pieces, just like the cup that’s shattered at his feet. Suddenly, the cup, the meeting, and the million pressing things that need to be done don’t seem so important after all.
I crumble with him, scoop him up, and carry him to the safety of the living room. We sit on the floor in all our brokenness, hold onto one another, and watch robins search for worms on the lawn.
I tell him I’m sorry and don’t try to justify the fact that I was only trying to protect him. Silently, I chastise myself for shaming him when I only wanted to protect him.
The shards rest quietly on the kitchen floor. Broken and undisturbed.
By the time my husband comes in from the garage, the kitchen floor is safe again, and there’s no evidence of the small disaster.
I’m fifteen minutes late for my meeting, but everyone understands and smiles with grace.
Driving home from the meeting, the moon rises low and white over the horizon. I consider the brokenness of the day. It seemed to be anything but broken in the moments before that cup shattered. Yet as I look more closely, it’s as clear as the moon rising white. It was broken long before the shattered cup.
God Uses Brokenness When We Bend Low in Humility
My brokenness often looks like a striving woman trying to keep all the pieces together but coming unglued when the pieces refuse to cooperate.
King David wrote: My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise (Psalm 51:17, NIV).
It wasn’t until the cup shattered and our little boy fell apart that good brokenness came.
Godly brokenness comes when we let ourselves fall dependently into his arms and give up our striving efforts to live in our own strength. Good brokenness comes when we let others see our vulnerabilities and don’t hide the things we haven’t figured out. Good brokenness comes when we go lower and offer our broken hearts to God, trusting that he won’t throw them away, but that he’ll piece them back together with greater beauty. #brokenness #Godinsuffering Share on X
You might be feeling broken today. If so, the following truths are for you.
Let’s look at seven insights to encourage us when we’re feeling broken.
1. When you’re feeling broken, God is shaping you.
God will use your broken moments to show you where he wants to shape and mold your life.
The secret is to keep your heart soft and teachable.
My broken moment in the kitchen reminded me of the kind of mother I wanted to be. I was reminded of the gentleness I want to exude, and God used the moment to shape my heart (to read more about how to live with less grit and more grace, join me here).
2. Brokenness is always an opportunity for God to reveal his power.
I’m good and accomplishing my goals in my own strength.
This determination served me well for decades, but it didn’t help me grow in dependence upon God.
In truth, God’s power shows up when we are weak, not when we are succeeding in our own strength. Every broken moment is an opportunity to turn to God and watch for his power to be made perfect through you.
3. Brokenness can lead us into God’s open arms, deeper into his love.
God used a broken heart to call King David back into his love.
When I keep my heart soft, God uses brokenness to show me just how much I need his everlasting arms to catch me. His grace meets me in my weakness, leading me deeper into his love for me.
We have never fallen so far that his arms cannot reach out to uplift us and save us, even from ourselves.
4. Our broken moments are often the platforms for God’s miracles.
We often have to come to the end of ourselves for God to work miracles in our lives.
When our fists cling tightly to what we think we can control and manage, God lets us hold on. The act of holding on is also what keeps God from working miracles in our lives.
More than once, God used broken loaves to feed thousands.
Consider what would have happened if the disciples had kept the loaves and fish for themselves. They would have missed out on the miracle.
5. Feeling broken reminds us of our need for Jesus.
When life gets hard, we face multiple options: We can pull ourselves up in our human strength and press forward with determination, forgetting about God’s provision in the process (this is my default); we can shut down in defeat; we might numb ourselves through escapist behaviors; or we can turn to Jesus in our weakness, asking him to sustain and carry us.
A line that has become regular in our home after mom meltdowns is, “Kids, this is a reminder that your mom needs Jesus too.”
6. Brokenness often leads us to relinquish the desire for control.
Many of our broken moments involve the desire for control.
For me, this brokenness often reveals itself when life doesn’t go according to my plans, and I snap. At other times, unexpected crises arise, and I come unglued with reactive anxiety. If I can’t fix what seems broken, I reel with stress and worry.
Meanwhile, Jesus holds out his hand and whispers, “Let go of your desire for control and trust me. I will carry you through this as you rest in me.”
7. Only through the brokenness of Christ do we find healing.
Lastly, Jesus reminds us that all healing is found through brokenness. God used Jesus’ broken body, pierced for our sins, to provide salvation for all humankind. Because Christ was broken, we can turn to him and find wholeness.
May we never forget this truth. Christ’s brokenness on the cross is the gateway to our healing and hope.
~~~
I walk into a still house after the meeting and turn on the hallway light.
On the floor, a small shard of white greets me at the entryway, flung fifteen feet from the site of the fallen cup. I pick it up and hold it on the tip of my finger. It seems we’re sweetly broken together tonight.
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