From Messy to Whole Walking in Freedom
How can we move forward in life? How can we love again? How can we trust once trust was broken? How can we trust God with our hurts and brokenness?
You probably read the previous blog post, “Not A Beautiful Story, But A Story From Messy to Whole” last Thursday.
It was the real, the raw, the ugly, the messy story that shifted in a way only the Good Lord could do.
So how can we move forward in life after all what has been done to us?
How can we love again when it feels your heart was ripped out of you?
How can we trust again when trust has been broken more times than you can count?
How can we trust our God with our hearts and brokenness?
We first need to come to him with all our dirty, muddy, messy, baggage. We must be true to Him and ourselves. Coming to him with all our cares and anxieties, our burdens and what wearies us. What bothers us and what hurts us.
I want to sit with you right now sweet friend, with my cup of tea, have you over for a chat, sit on my couch, and just hear your heart. I want you to know someone else who wants this to (maybe without the tea), and his name is Jesus.
All throughout the bible he shows his unmeasurable love to us, how our Father shows his grace towards us, how he bends down and listens.
He listens. He hears our cries. He sees and feels our pain.
As I walked into church, I felt odd, out of place, I felt “why is everyone so joyful and having these happy faces?” I checked my daughters into their class and walked into the sanctuary. I sat in the very back, in hopes nobody would see me. But that didn’t work out like I planned. Funny how that works right?
So many faces welcoming me, saying hi, shaking hands, speaking prophetic words over me (now at the time I had zero clue what they were even talking about).
Each Sunday I continued to attend. I began feeling a shift in my heart. A hunger for God, meaning wanting to know more about Him, spend time with Him, and read His Word more. I began changing the music I listened to, I begin speaking differently and I began seeing things differently.
I wanted to know more of who God was/is. Wanting to be more like him and less like myself. I allowed him to work in me, in areas I thought I could keep secret.
Friend, there may be places, areas, “secrets” that you think you can hide from God, but let me tell you, nothing can be hidden.
Adam and Eve tried that. They been there, done that, and it didn’t work.
He knows every fiber being in us. He knows every thought, every sin we’ve done, every word that will even be spoken. (Psalm 139). We can’t outrun God nor can we hide from him.
God saw us when we could not be seen, and he wrote about us when there was nothing of us to write about
charles spurgeon
You don’t have to hide your broken pieces because it is with the broken pieces of our lives that God constructs his biggest platforms from which he displays his glory.
We must be willing to surrender to Him and have him fix us.
One night I remember crying out “no more Lord, I can’t anymore. Help me. Save me. I need you in my life.”
Friend, admit it. Life is hard. Life isn’t easy. But with God our life can be joyful in all circumstances. No matter what we face, we can still be joyful knowing we have a father who never leaves.
Too move forward in life, we must come to Jesus knowing he is the all source of life. That he is the bread of life, John 6:35, and He is the one who can give us peace that surpasses all understanding, Philippians 4:7.
Forgive those who hurt us and forgive ourselves. We happen to beat ourselves up over past things we’ve done or whats been done to us instead of walking in freedom that Christ has died for. (Galatians 5)
If we are willing to meet Jesus in the places that we were wounded the deepest, we can see God perform his greatest miracles. If we are willing to go back to the scene of the wound, the mistake, the failure, the sin, and allow Jesus to reclaim that space, he can turn our mess into our miracle.
I want to provide a few simple steps that has helped me get through with God and in my dirty, messy, ugly days, allowing him to break me and set me free.
He loves to take the broken and make them whole.
10 Steps God Helped Me Break Free
- Be ready to change wholeheartedly. We can’t be willing to change if we are half in and half out. It’s like taking a cup of coffee to drink. You either drink it hot or iced cold but never room temperature. Same goes for God, we must be willing to allow him to change our hearts without holding back.
- Attend church. Find a church that will help you hear the Word. Attend regularly. Hearing the Word and being in the environment getting filled by the Spirit, Word, and Community. I get asked quite a bit “how do I find the right church?” While there is no perfect church because there is no perfect people, there is the right place you need to be in. Pray and ask the Lord to reveal to you where you should go and then do your search. I attended an Assemblies of God Christian Church, where growing in the Word and Spirit is vital for our life. But doing community is refreshing.
- Surround yourself with other believers. If we continue to surround ourselves with those who hold us back from the calling God has called us too, we aren’t living fully to our God given potential and calling. Being surrounded by believers in christ encourage us, equip us, help us in our life with God and steer us the correct direction if we are off course.
- Pray often. Even if we don’t know what to pray, pray to our Father. Open your heart and let out what needs to be out. Don’t just pray morning and night but pray all throughout the day.
- Let Him be your best friend. He needs to be our first and foremost person we run to. He needs to be our best friend, the one who doesn’t judge us, never leaves us, doesn’t laugh at us but with us, who teaches and corrects, who leads and encourages, who loves with everything in Him. Share with him regular conversations as you would your best friend, or any other member.
- Read the Word daily. Mediate on it. Read it. Memorize it. Start off in the New Testament and begin there. My favorite spot to start is Matthew or James or even 1 John. 1 John is a great place to show our Fathers extravagant love to his children.
- Ask questions. Questions are a great thing to have. If we don’t ask questions, we aren’t learning.
- Let go of what needs to be let go of. If he tells us to change and something needs to go, we must be willing to receive his direction. There is a reason it has to be gone, whatever it may be. Whether is foul language, or music that shouldn’t be played, movies that are opening other doors, it could be your attitude too.
- Keep pressing in and don’t give up. This life isn’t easy. But its worth living when Jesus christ is in the center of our heart. Keep pressing into him, spending time with him, speaking to him, praying to him, reading the word and surrounding yourself with others.
- Save the resources given. God gives you resources either through ministries, friends that are believers, church, etc. Keep them because it’ll be one to look back on and see how great He was, and still is, at how he has worked in you.
These are just a few easy steps that I did. Yes I struggled. Yes it was a bit scary opening up to new friends after I lost the ones I thought would be here forever. It was hard letting people in, but like God told me and something I want to share with you, “you’re not meant to do life alone. So why are you?” We need friends. The good ones that are there. The ones who lift you up out of despair.
And trust. We must trust God knowing he brings people into our lives for a reason. He doesn’t let us down, he doesn’t leave us, he is always there! He knows the plans for us, plans to prosper us and not harm us, to give us a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11). He promises to bring you to the promised land, we just have to be willing to let him do in us whats best, for our good and his glory.
Jesus’ body was broken on the cross, God restored and redeemed and raised his body! So trust that Jesus is bringing your brokenness and hurt and pain into a much better place.
Friend, will you allow him to do this in you?
What will you do today to allow him to work in you?
Until next time sweet friend <3
Love,
Nicole