Popular author and speaker, Joyce Meyer, shares her story. She was hard to get along with, harsh to people, controlling, manipulative, angry, critical, negative, overbearing, and judgmental.
She also didn’t know how to give or receive love.
Married and divorced! But the cycle didn’t stop with her 2nd husband, even though he was loving and kind. She abused him, too, because that’s all she knew how to do.
You see, she was broken on the inside. Terribly broken!
The brokenness came from the years of abuse she endured at the hands of her own father when she was growing up. Horrible abuse!
Here’s a startling truth: the church is full of broken people. Believers! People trying to fix their brokenness! And others not even aware of the damage they live with on a daily basis.
Today, I want to address this topic because I see Christians hurting each other, sparring back and forth, reacting in ungodly ways, and seeking wholeness in the wrong places.
I’m not talking about a broken “spirit.” David said that “the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart” (Psalm 51:17). The moment we recognize our humanness in light of Christ’s divinity is when our spirits break and we fall to our knees before our holy God. This is what awakens our spirits to see Him. This is the best thing that can happen to us.
I’m discussing the brokenness deep within caused by something that’s happened to us. Many things can cause us to break. Here are a few: shattered dreams, rejection, abuse, neglect, failure, hurt, pain, crumbled marriage or relationship, circumstances beyond our control, and our own bad choices.
Without healing, the break will just get bigger.
Can you relate to what I’m saying? Is this topic piercing your soul because you recognize your own brokenness and/or the condition of your heart? Something tells me that each one of us knows what brokenness feels like. I know I do.
The good news is that believers can be made whole again. Please read on to understand how to go from brokenness to wholeness.
1) Recognize YOUR brokenness! 
The 1st step in the 12-step Alcoholics Anonymous program is “recognizing you have a problem.” Without this first initial step, you will never seek healing. It seemed Jesus was always revealing to people the condition of their hearts.
Living in denial only worsens the brokenness.
If you recognize any of the responses to brokenness above and are not sure if you know what could be broken, then maybe you should make David’s prayer yours: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24).
2) Know that YOU cannot fix the brokenness! You can put a Band-Aid on it (as many of us do) but that only covers the scars – it doesn’t heal them. We try to hide from it, live with it, pretend it isn’t there, and ignore it. None of these things can heal it. None of these things offers us wholeness.
Here’s the reality: we are human and incapable of healing the deep wounds inside. We read in John’s Gospel: “Apart from Christ, you can do nothing” (John 15:5). This brings us to our 3rd point…
3) Wholeness only comes through Christ! Jesus is the only one who can pick up the broken pieces and put them back together again. Jesus is God and His Name is Jehovah Rapha – the Lord who heals.
Centuries before Jesus arrived on earth, the prophet Isaiah wrote about Him: “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me…He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted” (Isaiah 61:1). With that said, it’s accurate to say that Jesus came to fix broken people.
A cake can never reach its full potential without all the ingredients. The same is true of wholeness. And a major component to being made whole is yielding to God.
Brokenness stops when our spirit yields to God’s will.
There is one last component to complete wholeness – a vital component.
FORGIVENESS!
We have to be able to forgive those who’ve hurt us, abused us, rejected us. And we also need to be able to forgive ourselves. Forgiveness can set a prisoner free, cast out bitterness, restore relationships, bring back our joy, and set us on a pathway to abundant freedom.
Paul said, “Forgive as the Lord forgave you” (Colossians 3:13). Many people have walked the road of forgiveness. You can too!
Hear what I’m about to say! God can use us through our brokenness. But, we need to be healed first. Broken people rarely help other broken people. But as we let God pick up the broken pieces of our shattered lives, then we can have a huge impact on others and a we can make a great contribution for His kingdom.
Oswald Chambers said this:
“Leave the broken, irreversible past in God’s hands, and step out into the invincible future with Him.”
So, let’s do it. Let’s allow God to make us whole so we can move forward with His glorious plan for our lives.
This is truth, Sheryl! Thank you! Millions of women around the world are sitting in our churches, broken. I was one of them. For decades. Even while doing ministry. I didn’t realize I was still a deeply wounded woman. Thankfully, God allowed painful circumstances followed by placing Spirit-filled women of God in my life to walk the healing journey with me! I had spent decades knowing Truth. And yes, the Truth will set you free (John 8:32), BUT … I was missing the other part that goes with Truth: SPIRIT (2 Cor 3:17). It’s like a butterfly with 2 wings. 1 wing is Truth the other is Spirit. If there’s only 1 “wing” there’s no flying. Both are essential. And when we BELIEVE Truth, and allow the Spirit to reveal and then take us through the healing process of forgiveness, and surrender, we become FREE and healed women of God.
Thank you Shelly for sharing this. Powerful testimony. Powerful word. Your message is sure to inspire many. You are a huge blessing.
So beautifully written. Thank you! We certainly need both of our wings to fly!
Sheryl, This is such a good word. I love all of it but so can relate to the “forgiveness” portion. Especially the need to forgive myself. Sometimes I think that is the hardest of all. The Lord has been dealing with me and bringing alive the reality of how His sin has covered “ALL” of our past sins. He has been dealing with me about forgetting those things that are behind and pressing forward. Letting go of the shame and guilt that the enemy continues to try and keep us labeled with even though our precious Savior has already taken every bit of it on Himself for our sakes; for our freedom and liberty. Forgiving myself because of what He has already done for me is a journey He is taking me on as He is teaching me to walk in the freedom and liberty He has given me. Everytime the enemy brings up my past I am quoting just what Paul said….”…letting go of those things behind and pressing forward to lay hold of those things before me…” If Paul could continue to let go of the past the enemy tried to remind Him of I can do the same! Love you ladies…. Love how you quoted Isaiah 61:1. Through this journey and process the Lord has had me reading this scripture and where Jesus spoke this word over Himself in Luke chapter 4; to remind me of just what He came to do for us. He has come to heal our brokenness and make us whole. Love this word! Thanks so much! We serve the most Amazing God!
Rommy, one of the most powerful Scriptures that I hold onto is this: “If we look back, we are not fit for God’s Kingdom.” Therefore, it is imperative that we “KEEP our eyes fixed upon Jesus, and look lovingly into His Wonderful Face. Then the things of earth shall grow strangely dim, in The Light of His Glory and Grace.
The most powerful example of this is “The Groom who beholds his Beloved Bride walking towards him in all of her stunning beauty on their Wedding Day. He only has eyes for her. Likewise, may our eyes be fixed on “The Heavenly Bridegroom of our souls as we lose ourselves in His Profound Glory and Grace.
The thought of His Eyes meeting mine simply melts my heart!
Sheryl,
The following sentence is so profound, that it truly did bring me to my knees: “The moment we recognize our humanness in light of Christ’s divinity is when our spirits break and we fall to our knees before Our Holy God. This is what awakens our spirits to see Him. This is the best thing that can happen to us.”
In my mid thirties I was a broken woman, especially after having to identify the precious body of my Nephew, Patrick, who died on the operating table after being in a horrible accident in September of 1977. The fatal injury was to the back of his head, so when I first went in to see him, it was as though he was quietly sleeping. I wanted to shout, “Petey,” as we called him, “wake up! Please, wake up!”
For you see, Patrick’s Father had died from leukemia, and his Mother, my Sister, lived hundreds of miles away. How could I now tell her that her Precious Son was now dead at 21 years of age? I am crying even as I pen these words!
For three months, I searched for God because I needed Him to “Father” me. For when I went into the hospital room and saw this Beloved young man I had help raise, I didn’t even truly know The God of my youth; He was like a stranger to me. What could I possibly say to Him?
In December of that same year, full of pain and anxiety, I went up to my room and prayed “The Prayer of Surrender,” with tears gushing from my broken heart. And it was in my surrender to God’s Precious Spirit that I was born anew. When I woke up, it was as though The Spirit had taken me to a new land where His Presence totally filled my heart and my world. And yes, my Heavenly Father so gently drew me aside and held me in His very tender Arms.
Yes, Sheryl, it happened just as you wrote. My human “spirit broke and I fell on my knees before my Holy God.” But He didn’t leave me there on my knees, He called me to Himself and I ran, “head over heals” into His Loving Arms. And it is there that I have remained, Beholding His Glory and His All-Consuming Love for me, His very Dear Child…
was such a tender post, so helpful to the broken hearted. I recognize the steps. One thing for those who have trouble with forgiveness, The Lord showed me a powerful way, especially when the damage to you is ongoing. The Lord showed me our bleeding Savior on the Cross, To place those who hurt you at the base of that Cross and let the Savior die for the sins heaped upon you.. It is for those things He died , just as He did for me and my poor responses. When you are broken the sweet Spirit sends up before God’s throne the sweet fragrance of release of your sorrow and refills you with His fragrance of freedom to love. How wonderful to give thanks and praise on this Thanksgiving weekend
Tina, I love that certain words move my soul to worship. This is how I feel about your use of the word, “FRAGRANCE.” You spoke of the “fragrance of release of sorrow” where Our LORD then “refills us with HIS Fragrance of freedom to love.”
In quite a few very sad times, a sweet, sweet FRAGRANCE has engulfed me, and I have learned that this is The Presence of my LORD coming to sing over me with “Songs of Love.” It is a Heavenly scent which has no comparison on this earth; for it is The FRAGRANCE of The LORD Himself, Who is The Fairest of us all. Blessed be His Most Holy Name, now and forever. Amen.