I bounce back every time the devil knocks me down.  Oh what a powerful statement.  But how many times have you been knocked down and felt like you would never et back up?  The Lord has given me the awesome task of writing about being broken.  As I embarked upon this assignment I immediately ran to the dictionary to define the word broken; as I began to dissect the word I came across a phrase I thought was rather intriguing; to destroy the completeness of.  When I read the phrase I was immediately taken back to a scene from the movie, Jerry McGuire, when Rene Zellweger and Tom Cruise were in the elevator with the hearing impaired couple; before the couple gets out of the elevator the man says to the woman (in sign language), “you complete me”.  As I pictured that scene in my mind I began to question what life would have been like if he woke up one morning and she no longer there.  Would he still be complete?  
    
     I was then quickly reminded of a time when I allowed circumstances to destroy my completeness.  I saw vivid images of me lying on the floor of my bedroom closet in fetal position crying and search for someone (other than God) to shed some light on this horrible thing that had turned my life upside down.  I wanted nothing to do with this God that would allow such a thing to happen to ME and the last thing I wanted to hear was, “all things work together for the good…”  Life had thrown me a curve ball and I found myself searching for something or someone to complete; something to make me whole again; something to fix what had been broken.

     If you’ve ever experienced anything traumatic in your life you know what it’s like to be broken and confused and you know it’s you know it’s not always easy to stand firm on you faith in Christ.  In most cases your fleshly nature begins to ask every why question imaginable and the last thing you want to hear is “God has a purpose and a plan”.  You want answers and you want them yesterday and before you know it, you find yourself slowly pulling away from God.  But, before you give into defeat I encourage you to do as Paul and Silas did when they were thrown in prison — begin to rejoice in the midst of the trial.  Don’t wait until the trial has ended to shout — SHOUT NOW!

     Acts 16:25 & 26 reads, “Around midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God…Suddenly there was great earthquake, and the prison was shaken and all the doors flew open and the chains of every prisoner fell off.”  Purpose in your heart that today is the day that you will totally surrender your circumstances to God and begin to shout through the trial—start praising God for what you know He’s going to do and watch Him loose the chains and set you free.  Your heart may be breaking — SHOUT anyway knowing that God can fix what’s broken in your life—your finances may be a little shaky but SHOUT anyway and God will pour out blessings so GREAT you won’t have room to receive.

In HIS Service

Shirley  Hubbard
Butterflies for Jesus Youth Ministry
www.butterfliesforjesus.org