Broken

 "My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will  not despise." Psalm 51:17

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18

I realized something last night. I am broken. As I realized this fact, I was talking to my friend Ashley and she said something to me similar to this "Riss, everyone is broken. You just have to decide how you are going to react to it. Being broken by God is wonderful, because it means he is working in your life to make you reflect his image even more than you do right now." 

What does being broken mean exactly? Well to me it means a few things. When I think of a broken heart, I think of the image I posted above. Completely crushed and shattered with what seems to be no hope of being repaired. I think of literal pain, and everything about our lives being shaken up or taken away or changed in one form or another. It seems like such a negative thing, and yet it isn't.

What is the medicine for a broken heart? Here is the answer: God is our superglue. He picks up each piece of our broken heart and puts it back together. He takes the things away that cause us pain and chisel away at our heart and tries to show us how to make different decisions for the next time. 

But here is what I realized last night- You might be broken for a long time. Immediate 100% relief probably won't come. One part of your broken heart may be fixed, while another is still shattered. It is a constant process. But God can give you happiness in pain- I am the happiest right now that I have ever been in my entire life, but that doesn't mean I don't have hard nights. It doesn't mean that the broken relationships in my life and other hurts don't bother me. They do- and the pain is real. But God is mending my heart each and every day and it is really cool to see. 

I found a song by Addison Road called Change In the Making. It talks about how we are completely incomplete and how God is working in our lives to make us more like him. It is a beautiful song, and kind of sums up how I feel right now. I am "under construction" as the song puts it. And for the first time in my life, I think I am okay with that.