What comes into your mind when you hear the phrase "gracefully broken"? I've been thinking of the concept of graceful brokenness and here's what I came up with.
Breaking is a chaotic process. To break is to "separate into two or more pieces, to fracture or crack, by a process that cannot easily be reversed for reassembly". This process of separation is usually done by applying a force that supersedes the strength of what is holding the item in question together.
However, the concept of grateful brokenness teaches us the fact that throughout our period of brokenness in Christ, we are assured of the fact that we are being handled with extreme care. Pieces of our past, our flaws, our emotions, our sins and much more are being gently scraped off to be filled with pure and holy parts.
The period of graceful brokenness can be likened to the renovation of a building that is still in use. You don't see that building being scrapped down totally. Instead, each part of the building is tackled and renovated a step at a time, a room at a time, a door at a time, a tile at a time, a window at a time!
To be gracefully broken means to be taken through a season where God starts to take control over our emotions, our thoughts, our dreams, our aspirations and every single part of our lives. In this process, God starts to align us to his will and plans for our life. It would mean the shedding of a few or a lot of habits and things that were used to.
The breaking doesn't hurt as much as the part where God slowly takes away from us what isn't in its right place. Where our desires start to be shifted and where we have to lose what we so cherish and desire. This period in the whole process - the period of loss is what hurts the most.
1st Peter 5:10 makes us understand that in this period, "Yes, you will suffer for a short time. But after that, God will make everything right. He will make you strong He will support you and keep you from falling. He is the God who gives all grace. He chose you to share in His Glory in Christ. That glory will continue forever."
This, ladies and gentlemen, is the assurance we have from the big G up there, that in our season of graceful brokenness he's going to be with us through thick and thin.
Persevere, open up, lose the old, and bring in the new. Good morning Ghana!
