Each of us is broken in one way or another. The pain of feeling unloved, unseen, or forgotten causes us to doubt God and ourselves, but God chooses us, heals us, and works through us in our brokenness. He is our hope for a broken world.
Baker Publishing
Day 1
Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 4:16-17, Psalms 147:3
You may be broken but you are not hopeless
Each of us goes through childhood with dreams. I’m not talking about the sleeping kind. I mean the kind of dreams you fantasize about as a kid. I always visualized myself as a sports hero, the high school jock running through a line of adoring cheerleaders on my way to the winning shot.
Which is a peculiar dream for me, since I was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy at age five. As a kid, I tried to ignore the inevitable decline of my body. Until I couldn’t. When I could no longer run and chase a ball, I changed my dream to farming. Nope, you still need muscles for that, and mine were weakening with each day. My body was broken, my dreams felt useless, and I thought I was a hopeless waste of space on this planet.
Have you ever felt that way? Has life broken your dreams? Your hopes? Your relationships? Your faith? There’s no shame in saying yes. God knows our internal struggles. More than anyone, He understands the pain of betrayal and death. On those days when you may feel like hope is a million miles away, when your heart is so broken there are no more tears, remember what the apostle Paul tells us: Do not lose heart! Because God is at work within us even when we can’t see it on the outside.
If you are dealing with an incurable disease like I am, I want to tell you how sorry I am. I get you. I know that deep level of despair. At the same time, even though I don’t hold a candle to Paul, I like to think we would have been buddies, and I’ll repeat his words: Do not lose heart. You might be wasting away on the outside; whether it’s physical illness, financial distress, family trauma, or one of many different battles. But God promises to renew you on the inside daily.
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Corinthians 4:16–17 NIV).
Put your hope and trust in Him today. He wants to heal your wounds and your broken heart. And He has an eternal glory waiting for us that “outweighs them all.”
God heals my wounds when I am brokenhearted (Psalm 147:3).
Day 2
Scriptures: Ephesians 2:10, Romans 8:39
Lies and labels don’t define you
Without the ability to excel in what mattered the most to me—farming, sports—I believed I would never fit in, never succeed. The lies that I was useless and worthless kept me angry, stuck, and without hope.
In today’s culture, there seem to be even more ugly lies than ever; outrageous lies that threaten our identity, faith, and soul. Young people don’t know who they are or whether they can trust the faith of their parents. Generations of all ages are overwhelmed with the political and spiritual upheaval across our land. We don’t know who to believe anymore as lies are spewing left and right. Lies are destructive and cunning. And lies will easily seep into our mind if we’re not careful.
Lies make us believe untruths about ourselves. Lies that tell us we can’t know the truth. That we’re not as smart or capable as the next person. That we don’t have what it takes to live a fulfilled life. And those lies transition right into destructive labels we start to believe about ourselves: quitter, loser, lazy, unwanted, and the worst one for me—a burden. Sometimes the labels aren’t as obvious, but they’re just as destructive. We see ourselves as unloved, unseen, forgotten.
But the truth is, these lies and labels are an attempt to prevent us from becoming all that God intends us to become. The Enemy whispers and sometimes shouts lies at us because he doesn’t want us to know how God sees us.
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10).
Each of us is God’s special creation designed with a divine purpose. Today I encourage you to take a close look at the beauty of how God views you, His handiwork, and tell those lies and labels to go take a hike.
Because you are loved. Deeply. No matter how hard the Enemy tries to prevent God’s love from reaching you, it can’t be done.
“No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39 NLT).
When destructive lies and labels start to haunt you, stare them down with the truth. God created you and He loves you. You are chosen.
Day 3
Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Psalms 30:5, Hebrews 4:15, Isaiah 40:29, Nehemiah 8:10, Luke 6:21
You can heal and grow through grief and weakness
I hear over and over again when I am meeting with people how broken they feel. Brokenness shows up in so many ways: illness, addiction, divorce, infertility, victims of abuse, accidental death or injury. I’ve met with families whose dad is in prison, a mom who is bipolar, children with cognitive challenges in school. The list of broken goes on and on.
What is your brokenness today? It might not be as obvious as some of these other examples. Maybe you feel trapped in an unfulfilling career or stuck in a less-than-happy marriage. Or maybe it’s even more subtle than that. Are you wrestling with forgiveness or feelings of guilt about not being more patient? Whatever your brokenness is, you can gain a sense of comfort in knowing you’re not alone. Each of us is broken in one way or another.
And each level of brokenness brings with it a sense of grief. I have had to grieve the loss of the use of my muscles. As a forty-eight-year-old husband and father, I can no longer even stand by myself. I need help with the most basic of daily tasks. Of course, I grieve that I can’t help my daughter load her car as she heads off to college and as I watch my wife take out the trash every day. So, yes, I know grief. I’m pretty sure you do too.
What gives me continued encouragement is that God understands my weakness and my grief. Yours too. Jesus can empathize with our weaknesses and our temptations (Hebrews 4:15). He promises His grace for us in our weakness. Not only that, but we are actually strong in our weakness because of Christ’s power in us (2 Corinthians 12:9). “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” (v. 10 NIV).
It’s hard right now, I know. We’re broken. We’re grieving. Yet we draw our strength from Him. And with His strength comes promised joy (Psalm 30:5, Luke 6:21). That’s something worth looking forward to.
Day 4
Scriptures: Colossians 3:12, Isaiah 41:9, John 15:16
God chooses you in your brokenness
Every summer I ride my motorized chair up wooden ramps to speak before thousands of festival goers around the US. That’s not something I could have ever dreamed of as a kid. I sometimes still find it hard to believe as an adult. Yet the fact I’m on stage reveals the truth of an interactive and loving Heavenly Father.
Feeling too broken to be of any use, I struggled with suicidal ideation as a teenager. My favorite place as a little boy was riding on the tractor beside my dad. Farming was my number one love, followed closely by sports. Muscular dystrophy took both of those from me—and with them my purpose. My body is broken, and for years my faith and my spirit were broken as well. I doubted the purpose of being alive.
Imagine my shock at age twenty-three when God called me to start a worldwide ministry and eventually host live outdoor Christian music festivals with some of the top Christian artists in the world. Here’s what I’ve learned: Despite my brokenness, God chose me.
“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you” (John 15:16 NIV).
My friend, this truth is for you as well. In whatever broken state you find yourself, God chooses you. He has a plan for you. And nothing outside of His will for you can hold it back. He loves you too much to allow you to stay trapped in the lies or the labels of being “broken and useless.” He will wrap you in His loving arms and reveal His plans for you at just the right time.
In our world today, we deal with a lot of rejection. As Christians, we’re rejected because of our beliefs in absolute truth and our commitment to believing in God, the Creator of the universe. But I’ll latch on to that truth any day of the week. If we were together, I’d ask you to raise your arm and hold up mine too as we praise a loving God who chooses us.
“I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you” (Isaiah 41:9 NIV).
Day 5
Scriptures: Psalms 23:4, 1 Peter 5:10
God is for you
For many years, I was in an ongoing wrestling match with God. I’d shake my fist at Him in anger and yell, “God, the Bible talks about you being a God of miracles. Where’s mine? I mean, Moses got a burning bush and a sea to part for him. Can’t I get a little something?” I was spitting mad, and I couldn’t see any way around it.
There are many things that simply don’t make sense on this earth. My faith has been tattered and tested time and time again. But I hold on to Psalm 23:4 (NLT): “Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.” I’ve walked through those valleys and deserts. And I’m going to be honest with you . . . In the darkest places, I have cried out to God while at the same time wanting to wrestle Him to the ground.
If you’re in a wrestling match with God, I get it. And I’m going to tell you: Don’t give up. There is purpose in your wrestling. It takes faith to wrestle. God’s shoulders are big enough to handle your questions, your anger, and your doubt. Wrestling isn’t wrong. It means there’s something deep in your soul longing for what only God can provide.
I had this misconstrued idea that God was punishing me, that He was against me. But God doesn’t punish His followers. Jesus didn’t kick the crippled guys when they were down. No, Jesus reached out His hand to lift them up. He offered love and healing. And, my friend, God promises the same for you and me, no matter how much suffering we’re enduring right now.
I’d love to tell you that when you put your faith and trust in Jesus all the pain and disappointment that life hits you with go away, but that isn’t the way life works. But what I can assure you is that God is with us, now and for eternity, and that eternity will be magnificent.
“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast” (1 Peter 5:10).
Cling to this promise, my friend. It will give you hope and courage to face each day. It makes me smile big.