{"id":21900,"date":"2014-09-19T00:20:01","date_gmt":"2014-09-19T04:20:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=21900"},"modified":"2014-09-18T15:18:41","modified_gmt":"2014-09-18T19:18:41","slug":"cracks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2014\/09\/19\/cracks\/","title":{"rendered":"Cracks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SeekingHimLogo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare Your praise.
\nYou do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
\nYou do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
\nMy sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
\nA broken and contrite heart, You, God, will not despise.
\nPsalms 51:15-17<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The words of this Amy Grant song began to play in my head as I read these verses\u2026
\nWe pour out our miseries<\/em>
\nGod just hears a melody<\/em>
\nBeautiful, the mess we are<\/em>
\nThe honest cries of breaking hearts<\/em>
\nAre better than a Hallelujah\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

I think so often we want to impress God with our performance\u2014with what we do, say, and with our actions\u2014that we forget that our brokenness speaks in volumes. \u00a0I don\u2019t fault us for wanting to do this, we want to seem \u2018put together\u2019 to those around us, to ourselves, and to God. \u00a0We want to seem as if we are in control, following God\u2019s word from \u201cGenesis to the maps\u201d, (as my pastor says). \u00a0But life happens. We are humans who fall and we break. \u00a0Yes, God does love us when we are doing well, when we are walking in righteousness. \u00a0But there is more to daily life than that…when we hurt, when we cry out in pain, when we are broken.<\/p>\n

I always think of the story of the shattered pot. \u00a0Yes, the pot was a beautiful piece of art when it was whole but somewhere along the way it was knocked over, breaking into small pieces. \u00a0From the looks of it, there was no fixing it. \u00a0But God takes those pieces and mends them together; He fits each piece back where it belongs. \u00a0The difference is not that the light shines through the cracks but God\u2019s light shines through us. \u00a0It was something to say that the potter created…a beautiful piece to begin with. \u00a0But it is another thing to say that God took something that was thought to be trash and made it beautiful again. \u00a0The care He took in repairing it is like the care He takes in repairing us. \u00a0Our broken and contrite hearts. \u00a0Our broken pieces that others may look at and want to throw away. \u00a0When we are broken, we may not want to turn to God. \u00a0Perhaps out of shame or pain; there may be many reasons. \u00a0But it is during these times when we need to turn to Him the most, when we need to allow Him to touch our broken lives, healing us in ways that will allow His light to shine through our cracks. \u00a0This gives Him glory and shows our faith in Him. \u00a0Yes, He delights in us doing good because that\u2019s what were supposed to do, but as His Word says in Psalm 51, sometimes, a lot of times, our sacrifice is our brokenness.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u271e\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 *<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s pray<\/strong><\/span>: ‘Better than a Hallelujah’, Lord! \u00a0Only You can make our broken into beautiful. \u00a0Only you can mend the hurt and pain. \u00a0We live in a performance-based society…we\u2019re told that doing good all the time will get us where we need to go. \u00a0But You, Lord, open Your arms to our brokenness. \u00a0Thank You! \u00a0Please touch our hearts and remind us daily to turn to You when we are broken and battered. \u00a0Your light will shine through the cracks and display beauty. \u00a0Broken and contrite, Lord…this is our sacrifice to You. \u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name I pray, Amen.<\/p>\n