"Broken Into Beautiful"

That's the title of the latest song to make its way into my heart. I had never heard the song before my choir began its Easter cantata. During a rehearsal as I sang the solo, I found myself fighting back tears. Read those words written by Gwen Smith--

She's smiling on the outside
But she's hurting on the inside
It's getting hard just living anymore
And the shadows she has clung to
Painful things she has been through
Have left her feeling worthless, Lord...but

You change worthless into precious
Guilty to forgiven
Hungry into satisfied
Empty into full
All the lies are shattered
And we believe we matter
When You change broken into beautiful

We live with accusations
Sometimes heavy expectations
That tell us we can never measure up
and yet You repeat with mercy
That in Your eyes we are worthy
At last we see how much we're loved cause

You Chance worthless into precious
Guilty to forgiven
Hungry into satisfied
Empty into full
All the lies are shattered
And we believe we matter
When You change broken into beautiful

Though we can't wee how we can stand before You Lord
And feel valued, priceless and adored

So many times, this past year especially, I have stood before my Lord feeling very broken. I have been there before...feeling worthless, like I can't life up to those heavy expectations. But oh the joy that filled my soul when I finally took my burdens to my Lord's feet. When I laid them there, I left them saying that I could no longer bare them on my own. When I rose from His feet, I was renewed and found strength to make it through the storm.

yes, that was a huge challenge, having to admit I needed help. But, the bigger challenge is facing the fact that I need to admit it on a daily basis. I need to remind myself to daily visit with my Lord.

Human nature is to tend to decrease the amount of time spent in prayer until the going gets tough. Then we suddenly feel so vulnerable and find ourselves panic-stricken. We run to the Lord with our messes and broken pieces. And guess what?! He loves us anyway. He fixes us, cleans the messes, puts the pieces back together. And He will always be there for us. However, don't you think that He would much rather us come daily for our minor repairs than wait for a total break-down?

We need daily renewal. We need to seek His face always. We need to lay at His feet regularly. His presence in our lives and in our hearts will give us the strength to make it through. But for those times when we don't...

Remember that He can always take the bad and turn it around. He can take the worst situation and make something broken into something beautiful!