It hurt me to watch her walk.
I cringed as she grimaced in pain with every small step, leaning heavily on a walker. Two years ago she traipsed to Africa twice in one year and handled the continent like a youngster. I’m not used to seeing my mother frail.
Since coming home from Kenya with me, she’s had 3 surgeries on her knee. Two to try and repair one gone wrong, but with rapid debilitating arthritis in the area, we knew it was leading up to the ultimate and final surgery: a full knee replacement.
The promise of a new knee would restore her freedom, her ability to move.
But first she would have to be broken.
I’m not a medical expert, but I do know that in order to replace an old knew joint with a new plastic and metal one, it requires peeling back tissue and muscle and cutting the old one away.
The days following this difficult and complicated surgery were harrowing with 103 fever spikes, tears and overwhelming post-operative pain. But she has been broken so she can heal.
“Perhaps strength doesn’t reside in having never been broken….but in the courage required to grow strong in the broken places.” -Unknown
Growth in our weak places makes us stronger. It heals us.
We fear brokenness, but we shouldn’t. It’s in that place, we find God. “God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever.” -Vange Havner
We are left with the scars so we can remember.
I’ve just returned from visiting my mom. She’s slowly walking, pushing through the pain. She gives me a half smile, knowing. It’s not because the stretching doesn’t hurt, it’s because she can see past it to the healing.
Are you broken today? How can we pray for you?
by Kristen Welch, We are THAT family
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Thanks for sharing. Drawing encouragement from this today!
Megan
Wow! My problems pale in comparison to having to heal from serious pain. Thank you for sharing. I could use a prayer for patience and peace. I pray your mother continues healing every day!
Need prayer concerning my depression, chronic pain, and what my next step in life is going to be. Nurse for 15 years, but 4 spine surgeries and burn out, I’m rethinking life goals, career, and legacy. Thx
Nichole,
Prayers for healing form depression. May God surround you today and infuse a new happiness in your soul!! 🙂
God show Nichole what type of work you would like her to do–what her next step in life is! Give her strength, courage to carry on with her illness!
AMEN!
Thank you for this today. My best friend suffered a miscarriage this week and she is so broken right now. In all the asking why it’s a glimmer of hope to know God can make something beautiful from the brokenness.
Oh broken is an understatement I feel shattered….. Losing my job and not being able to get hired has been tough…. I’m waiting, I’m depending… But it hurts to get excited and think this one God, is it going to be this one…. Only to find out NO…. More waiting… Yes I’ve been broken…. My will is surrendered…. But that’s why I feel shattered…. I need to heal…. There is hurt there I can barely breathe somedays…. So please…. Please pray for me!!!!
Dear Jules,
I’m so sorry about everything! It’s so horrible to not be able to find a job and to be constantly waiting like you said and getting your hopes up only to have them shattered a lot–I’m so sorry! What a terrible thing! But bless you for being so patient in this waiting–I think patience is the main key, patience and trust….I applaud you for surrendering your will like you said and just trusting even in the waiting–that is so admirable!! Waiting is so hard….but it sounds like you’re choosing a very faith-filled way to walk through it, which is the best thing to do. Dear Lord, I lift up Jules to You….You know all the heartbreak which she has experienced and is experiencing over not being able to find the right job and having to wait….please wrap her up in Your arms and help her to know and experience Your presence with her right now! Please bless her for her trust in You and for her patience, and help her to just keep trusting, to keep being patient in waiting, knowing that You will bless her for her patience. Help her to know that You have the perfect plan for her, even if it seems delayed in coming, and that she is doing the right thing to put all her trust in You! Please take away the hurt from her, the pain, so that she feels able to breathe and rest. Help her to heal, and flood her with Your supernatural peace even amidst the stress right now! Give her a deep experience of Your immense love for her so that she knows that You are right there with her and will always provide for her, no matter what. And please lead her to exactly the right job which will accept her–lead her to exactly the right one, Lord, and in the meantime, give her all the support she needs in the waiting. Be with her, Lord! In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.
God please surround Jules wisdom, strength & courage to keep on job hunting & going on interviews. Shower her with love & peace about where you want her to be!
AMEN 🙂
I am broken, my kids are broken, my husband is broken…. We have been separated for 2 years because it got to the point where I had to remove myself and the kids from this broken man who was abusive. Since then there has been more brokenness including affairs and betrayal to the point where I don’t feel I can be broken any further. It has caused me to cry out to God and to grow as a person. My husband is now making baby steps towards God and wanting to make things right but we are still broken and waiting for the healing before restoration is conceivable… Excruciating pain is very real to me but as you say, it is part of the process in shaping us into who God wants us to be, and I 100% believe that God uses broken people. May we be vessels of honour to Him! Thank you for your post 🙂
I watched my husband go through hip replacement and a stroke. Then I watched my daughter go through knee surgery. I practically lived at the rehabilitation hospital and I could see I must be strong. We spent Easter 2012 in a hospital because of the stroke and now we were in the hospital on Easter 2013 and I was “it”. Earlier that day I had called my daughter who came to my aid and they were telling me I had an ulcer. Yes, I had vomited up purply black stuff and I was very weak. So I was laying there on a bed you could not describe other than it felt like sacks of potatoes, and I was not watching anymore. People were now watching me. “We need to take more blood, No, you can not use the bathroom on your own, and No, you cannot go home.” I had my family around me and dear husband in a wheel chair but I still could not go home.
I had chosen as “My One Word for 2013” the word STRENGTH. Now I had none. My son was staying at night with his dad and what would happen when I got home? It was pretty simple, NOTHING. At first I would get dressed and sit down, then I would pull the covers up on the bed and sit down. It has gone on like that for almost a week now and I think “What is this for?” I don’t know, but I’m sure He will tell me. Thank you for the story about your mom. I thank God for strong daughters and I choose as my saying for the day…….“Perhaps strength doesn’t reside in having never been broken….but in the courage required to grow strong in the broken places.” -Unknown
Wow, thank you for this. I pray your mom will get stronger and heal. I’ve been married 3.5 years and I’m praying for a baby. Problem is, my husband and I have intimacy issues (due to child sexual abuse), making it difficult for us to make love often. It’s really bad! We can’t afford to go for counselling at the moment so just trusting God for a miracle. The past year has be particularly difficult for me…I have been broken, angry, depressed. But I know to always come back to God because I know He is the only one who can heal us and make us whole. As your quote so aptly says, I know now that “Perhaps strength doesn’t reside in having never been broken….but in the courage required to grow strong in the broken places.” -Unknown. Please pray for my husband and I.
Thank you for this article. God bless
My son and his gal are broken – between the two of them they have 6 beautiful girls – they need to have the love of GOD to shine upon them, bringing them together, open the doors of communication and understanding, be willing to give and take. They do love each other, but can not go forward with the newest of each other and the short comings that come with two family’s melding as one. They need devine intervention into their hearts and souls.
Praying for each of you today.
Kriste,
This is such a good word. I too understand what it means to be broken in order to walk in healing. On July 17, 2012 I was diagnosed with stage 3 Ovariaan Cancer. It has been a very long road to walk but now have normal numbers. Still undergoing chemo treatments. It is only by faith that I have made it this far.
Your word is encouraging to those in the middle of a hard place.
Thank you,
Mitzi
Good Morning Mitzi
Thank you for your testimony of God’s goodness . I pray for a full healing for you and that God may further guide you as he heals and gives you His grace.
Blessings
Elna
Hi Kirsten
Thank you for your beautiful word. I would like to ask for prayer as I start a legal battle to keep my daughters Father from taking her out of the country – I believe he has ill intentions and has been influencing her mentally. She is totally convinced that everything he says is the truth – she is only 11 and so confused. Prayer for her for peace and for me to stay close to her heart. For her Dad to see the error of his influence on her.
Thank you
Blessings
Elna
Australia
I’m still broken from losing my husband suddenly, closing our just started business, enduring a devastating bout with seizures, selling my house, losing my sweet dog even. Then receiving a breast cancer diagnosis, then going through chemo/rad and now the financial mess because of it all and all in less than 4 years. The good news is that God is healing me and keeping watch over me; providing me with a wonderful family and a loving network of friends. I know that he will use all of these experiences for something good. Please pray for some financial and job-finding mercies but also for clarity, strength for healing and moving forward. God bless you all!
This was so meant for me to read today. I am facing breast cancer surgery on Wednesday. I am the primary caregiver for my mom who is fighting metastatic renal cell carcinoma. This cancer has caused rumors on her skull, externally and internally. Surgery is no longer an option. Se has a skull lesion causing pressure on her brain and has undergone radiation. My brother is battling metastatic malignant melanoma which was diagnosed last fall. I feel so overwhelmed some days, but oddly peaceful other days. Maybe my lesson in all of this is brokenness. I never thought I had an issue with it, but it might be the log in my own eye that I can’t see because I am concentrating on the splinter ……….
Prayers please for my parents…it is five months after hurricane Sandy…their home, burned to ashes…literally, in the Breezy Point, NY fires. I worry for their mental health. Thank you.
I am praying for all of you.
Dear Deirdre,
I’m so sorry to hear about your parents–I live in CT and know how ghastly the devastation from Sandy has been and still is in New York–and how horrible that your parents were part of the Breezy Point fires!! I’m so sorry!! Dear Lord, I lift up to You Deirdre’s parents today, asking You to help them, to guide them, to console them, to lead them, to be with them, right now in the present and in everything in the future…be with them, Lord! Help them to cope with the horrific devastation and loss which they have experienced, and please protect their mental health amidst such chaos–surround them with the love and support of family and friends, and lead them to anyone who can help them find a new home, who can provide any kind of assistance at all! Please fill them both with Your supernatural peace, the peace which only You can give even amidst the worst things….give them both that peace and a deep experience of Your presence with them! Help them to feel Your overwhelming love for them and to know that You are in control of everything even when things are the toughest. Be with Deirdre as well as she walks through this difficult time….fill her with Your peace as well and a knowledge of Your love for her and for her parents. Bless her for her love and concern for her parents. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.
I was to marry a man I thought loved God………..thought he would preach………….thought I could trust…………..thought loved me…………………I was wrong. I feel I never knew him.I am so thankful God revealed the “real man”,but now I am dealing with the storm that blew through my heart and ripped it clean out.I don’t know if I can ever again trust……………TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many times,too many times and especially from “christian men”. Lord, help me heal! Only you can do it! I trust YOU!
Kristen,
I read this with tears in my heart today. It was if God was speaking just to me. I had knee surgery 5 months ago and it still has not “fixed” the pain I experience. I am looking at having a total knee replacement done and of course I have been scared. I have been broken and I know that I will be broken even further, but thanks to your post I am reminded that it is so that I can heal. Thanks for being just what I needed today!
Blessings,
Bev
We sure do live in a hurting world and all around me I can see the hand of Satan attacking the Body of Christ. I was thinking that maybe it was because I was older that all these bad things were happening to my family, my church family and even myself but I don’t think that is so. God so much wants us to draw closer to Him that He does allow things to happen to us but why one thing right after another? I think there is a definite reason why this is happening as it is and we need only to bear this for a little while, no matter how overwhelmingly impossible it may seem to face. My heart goes out to each one of you and my prayers are lifted up.
Kristen, I came across your blog a few days ago and have found them all to be insightful, full of Gods truths and hope. They have been a Godsend for me. The one you posted the other day about raising our children in an unsafe world resonated so loudly with me it caused me to have a long tearful talk with God. We are expecting our first child in November and already I was having issues of trusting Him with it’s life. Thank you for opening my eyes to the fact that my child is in His hands. As I write this now I am crying because this post today could not have been more appointed by God then an angel telling me. Today I found out that my husband of just under a year has been having an affair with a coworker since before we got married. To say I am broken is an understatement. To say that your message healing through brokenness could not have come at a more opportune time is also an understatement. I only checked Facebook for a moment to give my head and heart a break and that’s when I came across this posting. Thank you thank you for posting. Thank you thank you for reminding me that God is at work in our lives preparing us for something greater, even through this ugliness and pain.
Becky, my heart aches for you, I was pregnant when I had to separate from my husband and I know how hard it can be to face something as emotional as betrayal when you are expecting. “Be Strong and Courageous, The Lord of the Ages, holds all His little ones safe by His side.” Not sure if you know that song/scripture but it came to mind just for you. The Lord will uphold you, and as hard as it may seem, just trust in Him. Not sure where you’re from but prayers for you from Australia! Danielle.
Becky,
I am so sorry you are going through this. My husband of almost 10 years has had and may still be having affairs (it’s been going on at least 4 years). We have 2 small children so walking away just isn’t an option for me. Broken is a great word for how I feel. I was never close to God before the first of the affairs I found out about, but I am growing closer to him every day. I pray that He brings you peace and complete healing.
Mel
I saw the picture on Facebook before I read your blog and it grabbed my attention. I appreciated your words – “We are left with scars so we can remember”. I have a huge scar on my face from a cancer that I did not fit the profile for. So the reminder of the brokeness is constantly then, ever present. I have been on this incredible journey for two years and I know that God has worked and is still working in my life. My faith is stronger than I ever imagined that it could be. I am not through the process, and I don’t know where all this is leading. But as you said in your closing line, I am looking past the pain to the healing. Thank you for posting this.
I surely could use some prayers. I have been under a chiropractor’s care since the last week of December 2012. I was really doing well when all of a sudden, this past week, I started to develop pains in my lower and mid back on the right side and up my spine. It’s gotten really bad. I went to the chiropractor today and he asked if I had fallen. I hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary at all and certainly did not fall. I felt better after I had left the chiropractor but about an hour later the pain started up again on my way home from the store. I had wanted to attend a prayer workshop this weekend but the pain will prevent me from sitting for any length of time. Standing is worse. I have to use some Bio Freeze, Advil and then lay down.
So I am broken, too, and can’t fix myself. I don’t even know why I have this which has come completely out of the blue.
I am broken as I watch my son make a devastating decision for his future. He is supposed to fly on Saturday to “meet” friends that he met on line. He has turned his back on the Lord, his Christian friends, and is planning on making long term plans with these new friends. We know what they believe and stand for and our hearts hurt for our son. My husband and I are both trying to show the love of Christ while warning my son that he is making poor choices that will affect the rest of his life. Please pray that God will intervene. We pray that he will not get on that plane tomorrow. But we also know that God is still God even if he does go through with his plans. We are also walking through clinical mild depression with our 18 year old daughter. Our hearts break as we watch each of our kids go through deep waters. We know that God loves us. We know that He is caring for us but the pain is searing and suffocating. Please pray that we will know God’s strength and comfort in our lives and that my son would return to the Lord and away from what he plans to do. Thank you so much. Please also pray that our daughter will continue to heal and that my son’s choice will not affect my husband and I so much that we cannot be the supportive parents that she needs as well.
I am in a broken place also. It is nothing serious or life threatening, just mood altering.
It is a job that I have had for going on 6 years now. It started out fine & quite enjoyable. Then in 2011 our clinic director was fired and we went to EMRs. At that point the job changed dramatically. Now we have a new clinic director and “from what I can tell” she doesn’t care for me much. She would much prefer to have RNs in the clinic not Medical Assistants. She has even called me unintelligent in front of another RN.
During this process of brokenness, my hubby and I are leaning on God more and more. I am counting all my blessings and looking on the bright side of the cloud.
Perhaps God allows brokenness to bring us back to Him and HIS plans for us!
For me, i feel broken in relationships. A lot of my close relationships have changed and shifted. New have emerged but there has been disappointment and loss even in the new. Praying for God’s peace, healing and strength. Praying to have hope and not bitterness.
Thank you for this post. I am doing a bit of catching up on my reading, as I am in that “broken” place right now.
“She gives me a half smile, knowing. It’s not because the stretching doesn’t hurt, it’s because she can see past it to the healing.” I love these words from your post. They encourage me. I’m looking past the pain to see the healing. Thank you again,
Blessings ~Debra