There was no question about my brokenness. It was clearly evident. Since there was no hiding it, I thought it was ok to admit it. I was wrong. It made people extremely uncomfortable. Inside and outside of the church, I encountered angry people.
I was assailed with false allegations and accusations. People that had known me and I had assumed, loved me for years believed the worst about me. When I admitted that I was a Christian who was struggling, sad, and hurting beyond description, I was not supported, comforted, or loved as I thought I would be.
Thankfully, my God, the Author of Truth, knew what was going on, and he spoke truth into my life. He sent a lovely friend who took me to the library to find books that would encourage and support me. My son’s pastor taught a lesson that turned my wrong thinking around. Through the books and the pastor, I found Mending the Soul Ministries. They understood. The people at Mending the Soul knew God could recycle me, and they helped me to believe it.
God’s power was at work in me and for me. He wasn’t embarrassed by my brokenness. He understood and provided a small community of believers that also understood. The compassion of Christ was shown to me by my small group. They held the broken pieces of my life close to their hearts as God took each piece and refitted it for his purposes. My closest friends and my close family prayed and did the practical simple tasks that, in my brokenness, I couldn’t complete.
This all amazed me. Why did I encounter such diverse reactions to the same circumstances? Again I had question what people were thinking, and what I was thinking. In our society, there is an intolerance for imperfection. People don’t like to admit weakness. But Christianity is countercultural. We praise God for brokenness. God’s glory shines as he works through brokenness.
This is how the Apostle Paul put it; “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9–10 NIV).
God had not left me at the mercy of the cynics. He provided sufficient grace. For Christ’s sake, for the glory of God, he showed himself strong when I was weak and broken.