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Writer's pictureLiv Alliston

Broken-Mess



No one likes to be broken…needy….vulnerable…dependent…out of control. We do everything we can to prevent others seeing how broken we are, and more often than not we convince ourselves the façade is real. If you’re like me and enjoy some control over your life, when things get messy you grasp onto anything within your reach to bring your life back into order. Did you know that it’s okay to be broken and messy? Sometimes being broken is just what we need.

Look at the psalmist, David. His life was an absolute mess. He spent most of his young adult life on the run from a crazy king, who happened to be his father-in-law (talk about in-law issues). And, when he finally became the king of Israel, it didn’t stop there – unrest throughout his kingdom, an affair with a married woman, the death of newborn child, fleeing His kingdom because his son was trying to take the crown…. pretty messy stuff. David was broken by his circumstances: “Hear my prayer, o Lord; let my cry come to you! Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress! Incline your ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call!” (Psalms 102:1-2, ESV).

David’s total honesty of his situation and disillusionments with life are so refreshing. In a world of social media where everyone appears to be perfect and have it all together, we need to learn to be okay with the fact that we’re all hurting people in a fallen world. There is knowledge in this realization and freedom in its ownership. God isn’t surprised by your brokenness, and He isn’t disappointed – “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalms 51:17, ESV). Something amazingly beautiful and simplistic happens when you humble yourself before your Creator and show Him all of the mess – the good, the bad, and the ugly. He takes your brokenness and He molds it into something whole and complete in Him. He will fill your broken mess with Himself, and he will answer your cry: “Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear” (Isaiah 65:24).

I have found that it is most often when we are our lowest and in our darkest, most broken place that God meets us with open arms. When we finally come to the end of ourselves and allow God control at the reins, He will pierce the darkness with His light and heal our broken hearts. “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners …to comfort all who mourn…and bestow upon them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor” (Isaiah 61:1-3, NIV). God longs to fill your broken places with Himself if you would only let Him.

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