Do you ever have those perfect storm moments in life? Those moments when everything seems to come crashing down all at once? I have experienced several of those moments over the course of my life. God reminded me recently of one particular time I struggled through a perfect storm. I came home one night and crawled into my bed. As I tossed and turned through the night, in the middle ground between sleep and consciousness, I remember this one thought playing on loop in my mind: From the breaking point to the breakthrough, from the breaking point to the breakthrough, from the breaking point to the breakthrough. I know that was the whisper of the Holy Spirit speaking directly to my heart. I certainly didn’t feel anything remotely like breakthrough was happening, but I was aware that I had reached my breaking point.
Although I surely hate the breaking point seasons of life, there is a lesson God is repeatedly teaching me: Breaking is good and God wants us broken. It is a tough pill to swallow, but it’s true. I have learned that God wants to break my self-will and my self-reliance. He wants to bring me to the point of recognizing my limitations and realizing that the weight is too much to carry on my own. He wants to get me to the place that I am willing to admit that I have no idea what I’m doing, I don’t have it all together and that I have more questions than answers. He wants to expose my faulty patterns of thinking and relating to my circumstances and make me aware of the holding patterns that have kept me in bondage.
In my brokenness, I am able to truly humble myself before my creator. I am able to surrender the reigns of control to my heavenly Father. I am able to lay down my agenda and my own will, to fully pursue and follow His purpose and plan for my life. When the Lord strips me bear of every false comfort and causes me to look at myself for who I truly am, I am able to recognize my need for my Savior to govern and watch over every single area of my life. When I am broken, I am able to lay down my pride and be honest before God and others, regarding my true heart condition.
This place of brokenness, honesty and humility is the breeding ground for breakthrough. God breaks us of every chain that has held us back and hindered us. He breaks every curse and strategy of the enemy. He breaks every branch that is not bearing fruit, in order that we can thrive, grow and flourish in ways unimaginable.
Brokenness is a tool that God uses. Unfortunately, the enemy uses it to. He has a way of distorting our perceptions, so that all we see in our brokenness is pain. When all we see is our pain, our brokenness feels dark. It feels ugly. It feels forever. It feels like an end. It is not. If we allow it to, our brokenness will be the point through which God shines most brightly in our life. He will bring beauty out of the ashes. And what feels like an end will only be the beginning of the amazing work God plans to do in and through you.
If you will allow it, God will use your perfect storm moments in life to display His perfect power in the midst of your biggest weaknesses.
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 about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. (2 Cor. 12:9)
