Broken but Still Alive
Photo courtesy of Tim Mossholder at Unsplash.
I was walking along a wooded path at a retreat area. I was meant to be contemplative and allowing God to speak to me through His Creation. I was surrounded by a beautiful palate of colors with magnificent browns and greens. A creek babbled nearby as the path wove back and forth its banks at various points with a variety of different kinds of bridges. As I continued along wondering what it was the Lord might want to communicate to me on this delightful saunter, I came to an area where a tall bank of earth rose to my right.
On the top of the bank above me stood majestically tall trees with portions of their root systems exposed in the bank next to me. And then I began to see several of these majestic giants that had fallen and were now broken, dead trees. I thought of my own brokenness which seemed almost unfixable, unredeemable in that moment. Brokenness both physically and spiritually. A cry began to rise from my heart to God, “But can’t there be a tree that is broken but still alive?” As this question shot from my spirit to the Father with great distress, I began to urgently search for just such a tree.
Finally, having not yet found such a tree; broken but still alive, I found a bench by the side of the path and took a seat. As I sat with a sigh I looked up and there it was in front of me. A HUGE tree broken in half but still with beautiful emerald green moss growing on the bottom half and a few small limbs with leaves growing from the top half as if in revolt to its broken reality. The top half of the tree lie snapped, barely connected on the ground next to the base of the tree and yet it was brimming with life. My hearted surged with HOPE! Brokenness and life are possible at the same time! I thanked the Lord for answering my question through His creation.
The Father sees our brokenness and still calls us to and gives us new life. He looks beyond our current and past brokenness to the life he dreamed of for us when He was busy knitting us together in our mother’s womb. Before every one of us were born there was a dream in God’s heart with our name on it. As we begin to engage with our own free will we often make choices in opposition to that dream, but God is always working and wooing us back to that which only He knows is possible in us. I heard Him say once, “I am fully invested in you!”. While He has beautiful and wonderful dreams and plans for our lives He still insures that we have our free will always intact with hopes that one day we will engage that will in an act of utter surrender to our Creator and lover of our souls. In other words, the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth has taken the biggest chance in relationship of all! He gives everything with no guarantee of receiving anything in return. Thank you, Jesus!
At All Nations we also value taking a chance in relationships. We do this in many ways such as, trusting each other as we share about our challenges and our own brokenness in the process of receiving healing, by releasing young leaders in the Body of Christ into the work of the Kingdom quickly, by serving the Least, the lost, and the last selflessly without any guarantee of a return. In living out this value well we mirror who God is to each other and to those we seek to share Him with. Brothers and Sisters, may we all take bold risks and chances in relationships knowing that our loving Father has done the very same for us. God Bless.
Let me know what you think.
What are some of the fears you face when taking risks in relationships?
What are some ways God has spoken to you through Creation?
Can you identify places of brokenness in your life today or in the past where God has taken a risk in you and turned it into something beautiful?
I look forward to hear how you take chances in relationships.
Jessica “Mama J” McFalls has served in full-time ministry since 2004. She has served with several ministries in multiple countries in Africa, South Asia and East Asia. She has been with All Nations since 2011 when she did her CPx training at the Cape Town hub in South Africa. With All Nations she has served in Cape Town, the Himalayas of NW India, and is currently in Taiwan. She has served on hub staff, as a field team leader, and currently serves as a CP/member care coach and a trainer for CPx both with cross-cultural catalytic workers and local indigenous workers. She holds an M.A. in Christian Formation and Discipleship and is an ordained minister. The thing that makes her smile more than anything else is seeing people come to Christ and grow in their relationship with Him. It’s those little “aha” moments along the way in their discipleship that makes everything worth it!!!
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