Here's to the Broken One...

I see you.

I see you in churches, on facebook, in Bible studies.

I see you.

You're the "broken one." The one with the story. The one with the past. The one who feels cast aside, unwanted. The one who is to be helped, not to help. The one who can't hold a job. The one who can't have a baby. The one who has failed. The one who has been abused. The one who has been abandoned. The one who has lost so much. The one who is barely making it. I see you.

I see you and I've been you. Sometimes I still am you. The voices talk to me too. The voices that say your story is too messy. The ones that say you can't have anything to offer. The ones that tell you that God doesn't use people like you. People like you who took a path He told you not to. People like you who've walked through the valley of the shadow a bit too much. People like you whose stories aren't all tied up neatly with a bow just yet.

I know what it is when the pain and heartbreak and loss and frustration and failure changes  into something worse. I know what it feels like when it becomes worthlessness and purposelessness. I know what it is to feel like a constant burden. When you feel that you are more a problem than a blessing. I see you. I know you.

My dear friend, God says differently.

God says he loves you. He says you are beautiful. He says he knit you together in your mother's womb. He says he has already laid out good works for you to do. He says you aren't worthless.

And he's always right.

And He knew you'd be here and He knew you'd feel this way and He laid out a ton of stories in the Bible to show you just how NOT worthless you are. He gave you example after example of how he used broken and hurting and sinful people to complete His work. He chose people that were poor, prostitutes, adulterers, weak, doubters, selfish, and imprisoned. And he used them. He didn't pick the people that could take the best picture of their Bible or who had the nicest houses or the people who were the best at public speaking. HIS POWER IS MADE PERFECT IN OUR WEAKNESS.

Friend, don't ignore what God will do through your brokenness if you let Him. Because it's gonna be amazing. HE has not forgotten you. He has not forgotten the plans for you. He won't quit on you because you got divorced or because you're in a miserable marriage or because you can't have kids or because you have too many or because you can't hold a job or because you've been abused or because you don't fit in at church or because the money is all gone. His mighty plans for you can't be stopped so easily. I promise... you aren't too messy for Him.