Tag Archives: broken

Broken ~ Day 2 ~ Write 28 Days

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Singing My Way Through Write 28 Days
Day 2: Broken

“O LORD my God, you have performed many wonders for us. Your plans for us are too numerous to list. You have no equal. If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them.” Psalm 40:5 (NLT)

Broken Road

“This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you.”
Rascal Flatts

Have you ever thought about all the unfulfilled dreams, incomplete plans, prayers that weren’t answered as you wanted, twists, turns, and detours it has taken to get you to exactly where you are today? 

Many of you know the “broken road” that led me to West Virginia. What you might not know, are the heartaches I experienced as part of the journey. Teaching jobs after teaching jobs were given to someone else and it left me feeling inadequate and like a failure. Loneliness set in as my friends one by one moved on in their lives while I was stuck where I was without them. (No cell phones back then) And maybe the most difficult for me was the realization that the man I hoped and prayed for wasn’t to be found so marriage and a family probably weren’t in the cards for me. I felt lost. But God knew right where I was and where I was going.

I had lost MY way, but soon found that step by step, I was traveling the route GOD was navigating:

~The “unexpected” introduction to a West Virginian visiting Michigan resulted in,
~An “out-of-the-blue” last minute phone call offering me a position for the job I longed to do,
~I had “just enough” money for my plane fare to a place I’d never even heard of, then
~The “last minute” change in plans effecting my lodging lead to,
~”A spur of the moment” offer of hospitality from a fellow teacher I didn’t know,
~Who “just so happened” to introduce me to her single farmer son and the rest my friends, is history. Coincidence? I think not! 

In the span of little over a week, I had the job I’d hoped for, met colleagues I knew would become friends, found respite for my homesickness in the familiarity of a farm house, AND met my future mother-in-love and husband. It was “all part of a grander plan” that was coming true. I just didn’t know it at the time.

“We can make our plans, but the LORD determines out steps.”
Proverbs 16:9 (NLT)

I know you’ll find this hard to believe but I like to control things, for life to go as I want it to. And in the midst of all the discouragement and doubt, I couldn’t see that something much better was coming. Even now, knowing what I know from this experience and others, when faced with disappointment and pain, I still find myself vying for control, whining about where I am instead of trusting that God has a better path marked out. You too?

“For I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”
Jeremiah 29:11 (NLT)

When God spoke these words so long ago, I think he was saying them to us, too. They are a promise to hold on to when everywhere we turn seems to be a dead end; a reminder that though to us the road may seem broken, He sees the completed Way, the One that leads us straight to Him, our future and our hope.

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Broken Eggs ~ Five Minute Friday

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Broken Eggs

If you’ve been around small children much you know they can create a lot of noise! You also know that it’s when they’re quiet, you need to worry most. I found this out many years ago while folding laundry when I suddenly realized I no longer heard my young son playing as I had earlier. My motherly radar on high alert, I went to investigate.

The refrigerator door wide open, there he was, his bare little toes wiggling in a large, slimy puddle of shattered, empty eggshells and all they’d once contained. Looking up at me with large innocent eyes, in his sweetest voice, he said, “I just wanted to see what would happen. Will you help me put them back together?”

Well, we all know how that went don’t we? While tiny hands picked up some of the broken pieces of irreparable shell, they couldn’t remedy the oozy, gooey, mess left behind. A challenging job even for mommy hands!

Isn’t that just like us? We open a door we shouldn’t. Let our curiosity direct our actions. Find ourselves keeping quiet so no one discovers what we’ve thought or done. Sometimes we “just want to see what happens.”  And before we know it? The consequences of what we did lay at our feet. Fractured relationships, broken trust, empty dreams, results we didn’t expect or plan for. There WE are, standing in the midst of a mess we can’t clean up.

Little boy tears fell with the realization that the broken eggs couldn’t ever be made whole again. I don’t know about you, but all these years later, I can find myself in the very same place. As I attempt to pick up the pieces, my grief, fear, regret, or a multitude of other feelings overflow down my cheeks. It’s then I recognize, that fixing what I’ve broken is out of my “child-like” hands. Been there? I’m learning that’s the very moment we need to place it all, as slimy, oozy, gooey, and shattered as it is, into The Father’s hands.

“God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.” Psalm 46:1

“So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” Hebrews 4:16 (NLT)

We all know cracked eggs cannot be put back together and unfortunately all we’ve intentionally or unintentionally let “fall and break” may not be mended either. But, amazingly when we look up and ask for God’s help to fix what’s broken, ultimately, it is  you and I who are lovingly restored.

“But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.”
 Romans 5:8-11 (NLT)

There is so much that is broken in our world, but I don’t want to ever forget how broken I am and the amazing gift God has given me in making me whole through Jesus on the cross and out of the grave!  I hope you find some encouragement here this week as I’ve written with the others at http://www.fiveminutefriday.com to the prompt “Broken”. I thank you for your presence here and am blessed by you more than you know!