Broken Part 4: Abandoned But Not Forgotten
At the beginning of this series, I said I hate the saying that God loves our brokenness. Mainly because the feeling of brokenness and God purifying our soul through the work of the Holy Spirit. This process hurts, cutting deeply to the heart of our wants and desires until all that is left is nothing but Jesus. From our sin we are broken. We empty ourselves until we have nothing.
There was a point in my life where everything arranged itself where I found myself without a job, the apartment lease up in a place I didn’t want to stay, no direction, no resources, nothing. During that time I felt like a total and complete failure. I had to give up everything I loved and cared about and felt so abandoned an alone.
I was broken. Shattered.
What was I if not my calling? This went beyond a job, beyond a career, this was a calling that, for as much as I was concerned, I had failed. I felt abandoned. Now, although the pain of hurting those I care about is still fresh, I can see the hand of God present. Where I felt abandoned, God was at work, stirring, refining, and reforming.
When we feel abandoned and broken, God has not forgotten and is STILL at work in our lives. We must not be content to sit in our brokenness. Our God does not leave us broken but forms us by His hands to righteousness, by his grace, until we are made whole once again. God does not abandon those whom He loves and He will not give up on His people.
I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 1:3-6 NIV
What good news! The good work that God began in us isn’t over until it is completed. God will continue to pursue, shape, form, and renew every day until the day of Jesus Christ when all things are brought to their perfect in the fullness of God. Whatever I may think the end is will not be the end until our fullness in Christ is established.
My life only really makes sense looking back on it. During the times when I felt the most alone, I can look back and easily see that God was preparing me or equipping me for things I would face in the future. Although it was painful during those times I felt abandoned, I can see now that I was never truly alone. God was with me the whole time. Knowing that God was with me in the past helps me to see that God is with me now, even if I feel abandoned.
The beauty of brokenness lies in the restoration, in the fact that no matter how far we feel from God, there is always a way home. There is no distance I can travel or loneliness I can feel in which the love of Christ will not reach me. I know what it feels like to feel abandoned. I am learning what it means to allow God to put me back together.
Wherever you feel alone, abandoned, broken, and crushed, know that our God does not depart us even if we do not feel Him. We may have been broken, beat down, and feel destroyed but there is absolutely nothing that will be able to overcome the victory that Jesus Christ has won on our behalf. By his death and resurrection, we are invited to live in eternity, in that holy communion with a infinite and loving God. We will never be alone. We will never be abandoned. Our unity with Christ and one another will echo on into eternity.
