Beauty in Brokenness

I think I can do anything. Not because I'm good at everything. Oh no, trust me, I know when I'm NOT good at lots of things. My parents always taught me that I could do anything, because I have Jesus on my side. With Him, nothing is impossible.


Reinvent. No, that's not the right word.
Recreate. That's not it either.
Understand? Getting closer.
Figure it out...I guess.


One of my dear friends asked me if I could describe myself. "Of course!" I replied quickly. She looked at me, with love in her eyes. "Describe yourself as if you're on a first date with someone." My response? My mouth was hanging open.

Pause that thought for a second, I'll come back to it, I promise...but first, read this. 

{The Lay Counseling Program that I have going to since September has been reshaping me (there's a better word!), breaking me, showing me new things and challenging me to see truth. It is not easy. In fact, it is probably one of the most difficult things that I've done in my few years on this earth. It has taken every belief, thought and truth about myself, and questioned it. Good, right? More like, earth shattering. Everything that I knew about myself is being reevaluated.}

Back to my previous story. 

I sat down with my journal. And I wrote short, sweet sentences to describe myself. 
It went something like this... 

• I like to write
• I love to travel
• I don't want to just have one identity (one thing I'm known for)
• I love volleyball
• I'm afraid of the dark
• I don't like being alone for too long
• I worry 
• I have to understand things
• I like learning about different cultures

then it got deeper...

• I want to belong
• I need to be needed
• I don't understand why someone would want me
• I need to know things to think I'm worthy of attention
• I don't want to see my beauty in my brokenness

Looking at this list made me want to change something. I started praying. My wonderful mentor made sense to me about being wanted and needed. I am both. [But these were lies that I have believed for so long that they became truth to me.]

My challenge to you is to write those things down. 

The things that you know and think about yourself. 

Not the things that everyone tells you that you are. 

Read your list.

Which ones are truth? Which ones are lies? 

-Take them to Jesus.-

Ask Him to reshape, refine, renew.

Listen To The Story

What is it about a person's story that can capture our attention so wholly? 

Why do we listen intently to great storyteller's? 

What is it that draws us to hear powerful stories from people just like ourselves? 

If you read, The Story That Has Captured My Heart, then you've heard me talk about how our story is not our own when we live for Christ.

God has truly been showing me how to listen, truly listen, to someone's story. He's showing me what it looks like to see past all of the exterior walls that people build, and see someone's heart, even when they don't want you to. It is intriguing for me to watch an audience engage with a speaker as they tell a story. Just the other day, I was sitting in a meeting and as one of my pastor's told a story it gave me goosebumps. When we are watching movies, which are stories, we are wrapped up in them. Sometimes we laugh, sometimes we are moved to tears, sometimes we are angry, and sometimes we cringe. But we are entranced by the story.

What God has me pondering is why we only listen to some stories. Every story is unique and every experience has a story. My encouragement for you, and for myself, is to listen to people's stories. You can learn so much about a person by allowing yourself to listen, truly listen. That story may show you something you didn't realize about that person. If you let it, it could move you to tears.

God gave us the ability to relate to others for a reason. Do it. You may see God in a different way through someone else and their story.