From Brokenness to Beauty

The brokenness you experience cannot compare to the beauty God has in store for you!

Has life dealt you hard blows that have left you feeling insecure, inadequate, and incapable?

Most of us start our adult life thinking we can do it better than our parents. We think we’ve got life figured out and most likely we do . . . for a time.

There’s nothing like being young and thinking we can accomplish anything we set our minds to do.

Somewhere along your journey, life happened and your world was shattered. Were you devastated by something that turned your life upside-down?

For me, it was marriage and parenting. The ups and downs of my marriage and parenting were the circumstances God used to show me how much I needed Jesus.

Brokeness is Becoming Nothing

When you fall flat on your face in brokenness before God and see Him as your only solution, there is hope when you realize you are nothing without Him.

As long as you keep striving, worrying, fretting, and strategizing your solutions without allowing God to give you direction and strength, God can’t turn things around for His good. (Romans 8:28)

God can’t turn your brokenness into beauty.

When you think you can do something better than someone else, it opens up an opportunity for God to teach you a lesson. Thinking that I could do life better than my parents, opened up a God lesson for me.

I was only about 22 when these thoughts crossed my mind and my lessons started when I was in my thirties.

Having a prideful heart sets us up for a fall. Can you identify?

My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline
    or be weary of his reproof, Proverbs 3:11

Not all brokenness is caused by sin in our hearts. It’s not always because we need a lesson from God.

But there is always always something God wants to teach you through your brokenness.

This morning my mind and heart were rehashing words that had been spoken and I started to think back over various circumstances while raising my kids. Definitely in the past. Events that cannot be changed.

Even while living through those days, I went to bed reliving each situation and feeling like such a failure.

And yes, I was.

But hang with me on this.

Whether you have experienced a marriage on the rocks, or one of your kids is not walking with the Lord, or your life has been shattered by the loss of your husband or anything else that has challenged your stability in Jesus, this is for you!

If your experience has left you with brokenness, I’m holding out hope for you today.

You’ve got this in Jesus.

He will be your security.

He is adequate for your situation.

He is capable of holding you up.

You can become unstoppable with Jesus directing each of your steps.

God Makes Beauty Out of Brokenness

Watch this video for a more personal connection with me and what I’m sharing about Beauty out of brokenness.

Brokenness is what happens when we get to the bottom of ourselves. It’s where you’re at when there’s nothing left of you.

We burn our garbage in a burning barrel and once the fire consumes everything, only ashes are left.

My brokenness took me into a deep pit that lasted for quite several years.

I was powerless to climb out of the pit and was held captive by the waves that kept slamming against me.

Your ashes experience can last a decade or two or even a lifetime unless you allow God to turn it into beauty.

Situations kept happening. Sometimes they were severe and with my hormones imbalanced my responses were often not the best. I’m sharing this because you might be that mom too.

Is your situation fueled by emotions or hormones that are all over the place?

Do you deal with:

• Melancholy (a spirit of heaviness) or depression? Do those who love you practically think you’re crazy and is it difficult to explain what’s happening on the inside?
• Are you held captive by your circumstances? You go around and around with your child and can’t seem to get off the merry-go-round (but it’s not too merry)
• Are you all bound up in knots by something?
• Are you mourning a relationship you lost?

If you are dealing with any of these, you are not alone.

You might be struggling with that feeling that you are not enough.

That you failed in some way.

Or maybe you feel like your family is dysfunctional.

Or that your situation is unending or will never conclude.

Have your circumstances broken you?

There is a way out.

Your Brokenness is the Key!

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon 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 liberty to the captives,
    and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,
    and the day of vengeance of our God;
    to comfort all who mourn;
to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
    to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
    the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
    the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. Isaiah 61:1-3

Turning Your Ashes into Beauty

My spirit was so heavy that I woke up each morning with what felt like a heavy weight over me. It wasn’t that I was neglecting my time with Jesus.

The waves were hitting me hard and I wasn’t prepared for what life gave me. I know God allowed these things to happen but I wasn’t strong enough or ready for what I was facing.

Are you in a similar spot?

After an extremely devastating string of experiences, the most amazing thing happened. I found a song on YouTube called My Hope is in Jesus.

I also started singing Yesterday, Today, and Forever Jesus is the Same every. single. day.

I didn’t realize that something was beginning to happen. I was so deep in my pit that I overlooked that I was being lifted out. Painful experiences can be like that.

Then one day I realized I had found inexpressible Joy that I had never experienced before. My tears were gone. I wasn’t crying every single day.

• I had lost the spirit of heaviness!
• Mourning had been turned to Joy!
• I was wearing a garment of praise!
• I was growing like a tree of righteousness!
• There was planting and growth ahead for me!
• My life of ashes was turning into beauty!

God was able to use my brokenness and be glorified through my life.

Restoration and Mercy

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18

God makes beauty out of the pain in your life. When you experience brokenness because of your sin and failures and when you can admit to God how far you have fallen.

You are enough in Christ despite all that you have ever done wrong. Your failures can be turned around as Jesus takes your life and transforms you into His image.

It’s not the perfection in your life that points your kids and others to Jesus.

It is admitting your imperfections and pointing your kids and those in your life to Jesus who will glorify God through your life.

The pain and experiences you have been feeling cannot be compared to what God can do for you!

Your life might have been devastated by a traumatic divorce, the death of your spouse, a difficult season in marriage, or kids that are difficult, violent, struggling, or not walking with the Lord.

Your circumstances may not change but God can make beauty out of the ashes in your life.

When you’re at your lowest, God is there. Look to your God who is the Highest.

Ask the Lord to teach you what you cannot see.

You are beautifully and wonderfully made.

God can bind up your heart.

He can proclaim freedom for you.

And keep you under His wings.

God can give you mercy and restoration from your brokenness and turn your life into beauty if you simply ASK Him!

How can I pray for you?

PROMISES to OVERCOME FEARFUL THOUGHTS

Get this two-page printable pack to embrace Promises to Overcome your Fearful Thoughts!!