I am broken. Undeniably, completely broken.

I am imperfect in all ways. I can be messy, stubborn and unreasonable. I run late most places I go and sometimes I say things that I later regret. Sure enough, everyone has those “things” that set them aside from meeting the definition of perfect. Before recognizing those things that separated me from being perfect, I was tied down from seeing the truth about imperfectness. I was continually trying to cut those imperfect things out of my life to the point where I became completely blind in realizing that this very task could not be done on my own.

My God who tells me I am a child, one who is crowned with love and compassion (Psalm 103:4), uses my worries and insecurities to help me seek and then find Him.

Through my brokenness, I have found complete freedom.

When we seek Him with all our heart (Jeremiah 29:13), we will find Him. When we come to the point of full surrender, no longer clinging to things of the world that “claim” to make us satisfied, we can find freedom through His name. Through Him, we can be made whole.

We are all broken, and that is OK.

You see, God uses brokenness to mend us and show that He is capable of creating beauty from brokenness. He does this to prove his glory, to reassure us of His good works.

Think of a firework. From the outside, it can be any shape or size. When sparked with fire, the contents of the firework are revealed through a beautiful display of light. You are the firework. God is that spark. In order for us to see the beauty of the firework, the firework needs to be given a spark. By placing a spark upon the firework, the exterior of the firework shifts, breaks and bends to produce light. Beauty comes from brokenness that can be displayed through the works of God himself.

There is vulnerability in this brokenness.

In the midst of the storm, He is still my God. Though the trial may be hard, He is the same loving God that held my right hand (Isaiah 41:13) while I was once rejoicing.

Truthfully speaking, brokenness is uncertainty. When that firework cracks open, there is room for change to happen within the firework, which can completely transform the firework. Though fear is so common when it comes to uncertainty, it can trap us and keep us from moving forward and experiencing potential beauty. In our weakness, we need to be vulnerable for the Lord to work within us. In every broken place, in all the uncertainty and in all the fear, our gracious Father is making way for beauty to be revealed.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 says, “But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”