Broken but free

To be human is to experience emotions. We have all experienced happiness, anxiety, sadness, anger, joy, and pain.

To be human is to experience emotions. We have all experienced happiness, anxiety, sadness, anger, joy, and pain. Pain can be inflicted upon us by others and sometimes, we inflict pain upon ourselves. Some of us have been through things we cannot speak about without feeling a rush of painful emotions. Our pain could be due to the loss of a loved one, a broken relationship or even a childhood memory that still feels raw. It is so easy to live day-to-day believing that we are no longer captives of our past until we are unexpectedly reminded of it.

Suddenly, we are catapulted back to the very day it all happened, we experience the pain once again and the wound is re-opened. Sadly, painful memories have the power to become an intrinsic part of our being and we begin to carry this pain with us wherever we go.

However, in the Bible God repeatedly speaks about the changes that we should undergo once we surrender to Him.

 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” – 2 Corinthians 5:17 

 “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.” – Ezekiel 36:26

 “For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?” – Isaiah 43:19

God always wants to pull us from where we are into a better place, but we have to be open to the changes God has for us. We need to desire a life that brings more joy, more love and more peace than the life that we are currently living; we have to want to let go of our pain. We cry out to God to be changed, to be freed from our past, but how much do we really desire this freedom? Do we pursue this freedom with everything within us? Do we truly understand that we are children of The Light and that to be broken in the darkness will never be what God wants for us?

I believe that God is always ready to change us but we have to make the first step towards Him and desire this change for ourselves. For example, there was a woman in the Bible that had bled continuously for twelve years. She had seen many doctors and had spent all she had trying to get better but nothing she used could cure her illness. When she heard about Jesus and who He was, she went behind Him and touched His cloak. This woman was tired of her pain, tired of her affliction and ultimately tired of her darkness so she stepped out. She stepped out in faith and courage believing that merely touching Him would cause her to be well.

God wants us to stand up in boldness and step out of our pain so we can begin to see the blessings that He has for us. As I write this, I know that God is saying to someone who He wants to use the pieces that were left behind – the pieces of your being that you feel are scattered on the floor. God wants to use those fragments and pull you back together. He is going to build you again and you will be rebuilt (Jeremiah 31:4). So wipe your tears, stand up and stand firm knowing that you are no longer a captive of your pain. Give those broken pieces to Him and He will build so beautifully you won’t be able to recognize yourself. There will be fire in your heart, breath in your lungs and a spark in your eyes. Step out of your darkness, you may feel broken, but you are free.

With love,

Joy Mbakwe