Broken. Blessed.

Broken. Blessed.

The two words don't seem to go together. If anything, they seem to be exact opposites. 

We all know what it means to be broken-to be shattered, to feel as if our entire world has fallen apart, or perhaps been blown apart. We all have times in our lives when we don't want to raise our heads off the pillow, and when we feel certain tears will never stop flowing. Brokenness is often accompanied by emptiness- a void that cannot be filled, a sorrow that cannot be comforted, a wound for which there is no balm.

Nothing feels blessed about being broken, The most painful and difficult times of my life have been those times when I felt broken. I don't like pain, suffering, or feelings of brokenness any more than anybody else does. Certain circumstances in life hurt, at times so intensely that we think we will never heal.

One of the things I have discovered through being broken, however, is that after brokenness our lives can be the most fruitful and have the most purpose. The dawn after a very dark and storm-wreaked night is glorious. Feeling joy again after a period of intense mourning can be ecstatic. A blessing can come in the wake of being broken.

- Charles Stanley