Well, I have no clue what I was doing earlier today when I had a conversation with a friend that included my dumping my emotional world, tears streaming (sorry, Doug). And when I finished that, I went upstairs and put some furniture together. There is nothing better than hammering stuff to give time for perspective. Well, a good bowl of ice cream or a chai latte does the same, but today it seems I needed a hammer.
Here's the deal: I'm speaking at women's retreat in October. My first "real" speaking all weekend deal. That in and of itself is exciting and incredibly humbling. The topic: Beauty to Unveil. As if. I should have known that God would use this time between saying "yes" to the retreat and actually getting there to refine my own thoughts and feelings on this issue. Can you say "growing pains"? And while I was swinging the hammer and still had tears streaming(may I add that I hate prednisone), two songs came on KLOVE fairly close together. Not one, two. God is good to me.
Seems like He has to use a hammer sometimes too. Natalie Grant's "The Real Me" is the core of the cry of my heart. But there is another. It reminds me that when I use the word "journey" that's exactly what it is. Selah has a remake of someone else's "Bless the Broken Road." Big hammer, there, God, thanks. And while I think it was originally recorded as a love song, and could be sung to another human, I have never heard it as anything else other than a prayer from my heart to the God who finds me beautiful, captivating, and His.
"Bless the Broken Road"
I set out on a narrow way many years ago
Hoping I would find true love along the broken road
But I got lost a time or two
Wiped my brow and kept pushing through
I couldn't see how every sign pointed straight to You
Every long, lost dream led me to where You are
Others who broke my heart, they were like northern stars
Pointing me on my way into Your loving arms
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to You
I think about the years I spent just passing through
I'd like to have the time I lost and give it back to You
But You just smile and take my hand
You've been there; You understand
It's all part of a grander plan that is coming true
Every long, lost dream led me to where You are
Others who broke my heart, they were like northern stars
Pointing me on my way into Your loving arms
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to You
Now I'm just rollin home
Into Your loving arms
This much I know is true
That God Bless the broken road
That led me straight to You
God bless the broken road
That led me straight to You
It's the "broken road" of my life that God has used to refine, shape and use me. And while I would have preferred a less tumultuous journey, this is the one I have, and the one I choose to allow God to use as He wills. After all, it's what has led me straight to Him, in ways I would not have understood otherwise. That... is love.
8 comments:
Can I come to this thing?! I love when you call it a journey... you always remind me of that. Not fond of Selah's version of the [Rascal Flatts] song, Bless the Broken Road, but it is a wonderful song!
Hey, maybe I'd like Rascal's version just as much, if not better. With a name like "Rascal", I'm in. =)
And, yes, laff... it's a journey. Think Abraham....I'm truly grateful God doesn't call this a "trip", though sometimes.... =)
Funny...I was lstening to KLOVE today and that song came on...and I was thnking the same thing. That God used my broken road to bring me to a place where I can be of service to Him. Every time I hit a trial, He has used it as a way to bless my life. God is so good.....
yep... if we hadn't walked the road we have, we wouldn't know each other...that thought has crossed my mind more than once. And, yes, He is good. Very, very good.
wow. and what a journey it is!!
i understand what you mean. thanks for this entry!
god bless, lilly...keep plodding through!
hoping both our broken roads may cross someday...
:()
sail
Oh kshie I miss you. This entry of yours strikes at the heart of a lesson I am in the midst of learning for myself: unveiling my beauty. As a child and a young woman I was appreciated for first and foremost my physical beauty, it always made me kind of uncomfortable. I felt cheap, not particularily precious because I could see beauty all around me - surely I must have something else of worth too? I suffered a personal trauma in my mid-twenties and my response was to cover up my beauty in a protective layer of flesh. I would show the world! They would not find me "beautiful" anymore; not beautiful by their standards anyway. Well we both know God is a God who reveals the truth. So to me He has been revealing (once again) my beauty, but this time I am not afraid of it nor am I afraid to be appriciated for it. This time I am aware of my full spectrum of beauty, which includes my body, mind and spirit. Bless you beautiful Ksh, keep lifting that veil!
"Only those who have been broken on the wheels of life are fit for service as healers in God's kingdom."
-Henry Nouwen
That song is the bomb!!! Gets me every time. Miss talking to you, kshie!!
Much love,
gg
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