Broken, but not without hope.

I was enjoying a sweet friend's company awhile back. She was sharing with me part of her story. She had been telling another friend about her journey and the trials of her life that she had recently been going through. As she shared, she found herself being interrupted by her friend (for the purpose of grace we will assume that the friend's intent was to be kind and helpful) "Well you know _______, you are broken."

That struck my friend as a negative and accusing statement. That it is her fault that she is struggling with the events that have been happening in her life. It was due to her brokenness that she was having issues and difficult times. That her brokenness was controlling her feelings and circumstances and, in some ways, even the difficult events in her life.

For the rest of that week that she was visiting me we began so many conversations with "you know, your broken!" My initial response to that statement was out of my mouth like a shot. After a snorting sound that came from deep within came "We all are broken!"

But in taking a deeper look at this potential unhelpful words and really examining them, I began to really love them.

I am broken. I am broken in so many ways. In how I look at life (including my own), relationships, emotional wellbeing... the list goes on!

As a human being here on planet earth I am a classic case of being broken. As a believer in Jesus, I am a beautiful broken mess that is deeply loved, adored, and valued beyond measure. It is in choosing to live in that arena that my brokenness becomes beautiful. Where my imperfections are not belittled, shamed, used against me. Never being used to make someone else feel better about themselves or to make me feel insignificant.

It is in knowing that I am fully known as I am, broken, hurt, angry, frustrated, wounded, sad, tired and at the end of myself, I discover God's (Papa's) unconditional love and acceptance of me. That He sees me through the eyes of grace. He is fully aware of my brokenness and mess's and He sees me as beautiful and worthy of love and acceptance.

He doesn't require I "get myself together", "put my house in order", mend what is broken and be as perfect as I can be before loving and accepting me. The way I am right now, messy and unkept, in disarray and broken He loves me. He counts me as his child and invites me into his presence. Not as a visitor to someone's house or a guest to see the king at an assigned time and location. Never by own worthiness. I have been given the keys to the palace. As His child I have been given free reign of His house. I can crawl up on His thrown sit down on His lap and tell Him everything and anything. The best little-known secret is that He loves this more than almost anything.

Papa, being fully aware (much more than me), that I am indeed broken, frail, and hurting, He loves me beyond measure and imagination. He chooses me just as I am. He chooses me without me having to change myself in order to find his love and acceptance.

Oh, there is great freedom in being broken. There is great beauty in seeing ourselves as we truly are and knowing deep down in our inner beings we are loved, accepted and sung over by the God who made us.

We are all broken, but never beyond his love to repair and restore us. We have a loving God (Papa) who chases us with kindness, grace and mercy.