Broken Places

Did you know that often times the broken places in our lives can be the BEST places?  How you may say?  It gives God a way to show forth His power, His grace, His favor and His strength in us.  Yes– so you may be shedding uncontrollable tears in this moment but just know that every tear you sow is not to tear you down or weaken you, but it is to build you up and strengthen you…

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
2 Corinthians 12:8-9 English Standard Version (ESV)

And the Word declares for us:

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:17-18 English Standard Version (ESV)

I think about this family and what we are facing and know that God is IN IT! He is the Author and the Finisher.  He is the Alpha and the Omega.  He is the beginning and the end.  And as much as this tries to weigh us down we are still fighting, still smiling, still laughing, still praising God, still ministering and still working through as many raw emotions that try to surface.  What is deeper inside us is bigger than our circumstances.

We have faced hurt repeatedly.

Death repeatedly.

Loss– oh a lot more than one can tell.  But in and through it all, God has managed to sustain us and pull out of us the best.  In feeling broken, tattered and torn He has us building a terrific testimony.  Our faith will rise above our fear in the most adverse situations.

This will all pass as Nicki Koziarz states in “5 Habits of a Woman who Doesn’t Quit,”  Victory is often found in the most unfamiliar and uncomfortable places–we will find the treasure in the trial.

We may find ourselves in broken places often–but it is here that God makes it the BEST places where we encounter His peace, love, power, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, victory and triumph.

So February, we welcome you as we have now been brought quickly to the 2nd chapter of the 12th within Twenty-Eighteen and we see Your power emerging in us, through us and for us every day!