This past week, I was in Illinois, quite unexpectedly and had the joy of attending the annual GOYA Ministries benefit. This ministry is near and dear to my heart and my past life and my present life are all crazily intermingled in it.
The theme was "what if" and although obviously this was all in reference to how GOYA ministries has helped so many and how it will continue to do so, a couple of those what if comments have been with me, rambling as my thoughts so often do, since Tuesday!
In 2011, tragedy hit Mitumba, a slum in Kenya. And here's the take away they presented: what if what the enemy meant for destruction, we could rebuild for hope? What if we have to be broken to be made better?
Friends, I don't know what it's like to lose EVERYTHING. In my own life, here as a privileged white person in America, I cannot even begin to comprehend how destroyed and broken Mitumba (and it's people) were in 2011.
But I know how broken and destroyed I was from Sept 2016 until sometime in 2018. I can't tell you when I stopped being those things...but I have. Because God has shown me the positives in those two "what if" statements above.
It has taken a while. 12 years ago I would have not been very excited about the heartbreak my future self would find. But I am also extremely thankful I went through ALL OF IT. Even the breaking.
Friend, where is your life broken? Where is there currently destruction? Can you see past it? Can you let hope grow where it currently lives? Where are you broken? Can you find the blessing in it? Can you see a chance for you to better now? Better in the future that IS, where you had to break first, instead of living whole in the past that used to be? WHAT IF God wants to use this breaking and you aren't letting him because you refuse to see the good?!
This questions may seem flippant or easy for me to ask, because I'm through the fire and on the other side. I am NOW thankful for the breaking because I learned things through it that I never would have known otherwise. It has shown me hope that I didn't know. It has shown me trust, as if I never even comprehended that word before now. I wasn't always thankful. I was too hurt and confused to be thankful.
I can see now that I had to be broken to be made better. I had to make a choice to consciously NOT let the enemy use that destruction to destroy me; but to instead, let God rebuild my life in hope.
I'm going to close with repeating these two questions (again!) because in this broken world, finding their answer in God may be the most important thing we can do! What if what the enemy meant for destruction, we could rebuild for hope? What if we have to be broken to be made better?
The theme was "what if" and although obviously this was all in reference to how GOYA ministries has helped so many and how it will continue to do so, a couple of those what if comments have been with me, rambling as my thoughts so often do, since Tuesday!
In 2011, tragedy hit Mitumba, a slum in Kenya. And here's the take away they presented: what if what the enemy meant for destruction, we could rebuild for hope? What if we have to be broken to be made better?
Friends, I don't know what it's like to lose EVERYTHING. In my own life, here as a privileged white person in America, I cannot even begin to comprehend how destroyed and broken Mitumba (and it's people) were in 2011.
But I know how broken and destroyed I was from Sept 2016 until sometime in 2018. I can't tell you when I stopped being those things...but I have. Because God has shown me the positives in those two "what if" statements above.
It has taken a while. 12 years ago I would have not been very excited about the heartbreak my future self would find. But I am also extremely thankful I went through ALL OF IT. Even the breaking.
Friend, where is your life broken? Where is there currently destruction? Can you see past it? Can you let hope grow where it currently lives? Where are you broken? Can you find the blessing in it? Can you see a chance for you to better now? Better in the future that IS, where you had to break first, instead of living whole in the past that used to be? WHAT IF God wants to use this breaking and you aren't letting him because you refuse to see the good?!
This questions may seem flippant or easy for me to ask, because I'm through the fire and on the other side. I am NOW thankful for the breaking because I learned things through it that I never would have known otherwise. It has shown me hope that I didn't know. It has shown me trust, as if I never even comprehended that word before now. I wasn't always thankful. I was too hurt and confused to be thankful.
I can see now that I had to be broken to be made better. I had to make a choice to consciously NOT let the enemy use that destruction to destroy me; but to instead, let God rebuild my life in hope.
I'm going to close with repeating these two questions (again!) because in this broken world, finding their answer in God may be the most important thing we can do! What if what the enemy meant for destruction, we could rebuild for hope? What if we have to be broken to be made better?
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