To be broken

But I didn’t choose this.

When I said ‘yes’ to Christ, I wasn’t saying yes to being broken. “Of course not” He said, “brokenness is not a choice, it’s a chance; and it happens because I love you”

Brokenness is not a choice, it’s a chance …

That’s when I decided to listen; so of course, that’s when He decided to speak.

Brokenness happens for everyone

and it looks different for everyone. For some, brokenness is a result of a failed relationship; yet others face it when their life of lies finally catches up to them. No matter how it looks, it happens once we finally realize that our own efforts and devices will only let us down; they won’t deliver that which we truly seek. Brokenness happens when we’ve run out of options and are faced with the decision that we all have to make at some point: Life or Death?

The truth is, we are broken to the point of no return — totaled. We can’t be fixed. And this is where the rubber meets the road. The choice to be made is not whether or not to be broken, it’s whether or not to surrender. 

An unsurrendered heart still operates in its flesh – broken flesh. An unsurrendered heart believes that its brokenness can be fixed — so, she tries to fix it. She uses her own logic, her hands, and methods of the world. She may consult God and His word, but only for quick comfort, never for true conviction.

She doesn’t recognize that she is beyond repair.  She is completely broken, but she’s searching for a band-aid large enough to put things back together. She still wants control, but freedom and control can not coexist.

Freedom and Control Can Not Coexist!

Then there are those who are sweetly broken and wholly surrendered. This person knows that she can’t be fixed and has stopped looking for a mechanism to do so. A surrendered heart realizes that the only solution is to be made over, to be made new.

Oh, to be fully surrendered!

To understand that there is NOTHING of the past worth salvaging or holding onto. The surrendered heart is ready for her future. She has seen and sat in her brokenness long enough. She knows that her old life was made of cheap materials — a life painted with glossy coating, but no real ability to withstand the hits and blows that life brings.

This is why she was broken to begin with; to go back to a cheap version of herself, even if it is a quicker fix, would inevitably lead to being broken all over again. But to surrender and be made new, there is nothing sweeter in this world. Even if the unknown looks scary right now, the promise of eternity is too good to pass up.

The unsurrendered heart is still looking for glue, but the surrendered heart is ready for new!

We will all be faced with the reality of our own brokenness at some point. What’s your solution? I pray you choose surrender. I pray you choose new.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, [she] is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” – 2 Corinthians 5:17