From a young age, we’re taught the importance of putting our best foot forward. You want people to see the best in you, and so you walk the walk and talk the talk. As far as anyone else is concerned, you have it all together. And when you just can’t help but let some of your mess show through, you even try to make that look good. Because if you’re going to be broken, you at least have to be *cue the fancy-scripted-font* “beautifully broken.”
When even our messes have to be cute, when we feel like we have to clean things up before anyone can see – even God – that doesn’t leave much room to be real.
I don’t know about you, but I’m TIRED of living this way. It’s exhausting and impractical, not to mention unnecessary.
“We don’t have to come to God with all of our edges smoothed out…as believers, we can find peace in the fact that God takes us when we are most broken, He delights in us when we bring that brokenness to Him, and He loves us enough to take that brokenness and make it beautiful.”
Riley Clemmons
Riley is an 18-year-old pop singer-songwriter based out of Nashville, Tennessee. Her debut single “Broken Prayers” is about what it really looks like to be honest with God.
In an interview with the Gospel Music Association, Riley says, “The song ‘Broken Prayers’ truly came from a place of brokenness; from a place of wrestling with not feeling like the broken pieces are good enough to bring to God.”
If that’s a familiar feeling to you, you’re definitely not alone. Brokenness comes in a lot of different packages, but it boils down to anything that is keeping you from the life God intended for you: sin, mistakes, failures, and all the lies that you believe as a result. We all have them, but what do we do with those messes and inadequacies?
I’ll be the first to say, my messes are not pretty. There is nothing cute about my sin, and my brokenness certainly isn’t beautiful.
What is beautiful is a God who is big enough to handle my junk; a God who brings life, joy, and connection – not just in spite of my brokenness, but through it. And He does the same for you.
THAT’S SOME AMAZING NEWS!!!
God meets you and accepts you right where you are. No performance necessary. He loves you, just because. If we really latched onto that truth, how different would life look?!
When you can embrace your own brokenness and get real with God and others, that’s when you truly experience the kind of peace Philippians 4:7 talks about:
“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
I’ve been taught how to talk to you
Hold it together, make the bad look better
Say all the words that I’m supposed to
Bow my head, say, “amen”
Yeah, that’ll do
Making every dead end look like heaven
Like being okay is the way to reach you
But you’re not afraid of all the things I feel
So why am I afraid of being real?
You want my tears, every messy word
Every scar and every fear
You want all I have
With no holding back
When I’m hurt, at my worst
You meet me there
‘Cause you see the beauty
In my broken prayers
