Red letters… yes, Jesus said this. He was talking about Himself, and I love His humanity in it because later in the passage He says that He is deeply troubled and even in Luke 22:42 He asks the Father "if You are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done."
Tennessee harvests corn. I'm not sure what for, maybe for feed for livestock, fun for corn maizes, but I don't think we have a lot of the sweet corn that I love to eat! Country road running is fun for me because God always shows up! So as I was running earlier last week, God stopped me mid-stride to call me over to take a picture of this field.
Broken kernels of corn laying on the soil beneath, God reminded me gently of the times in my life where things had to be cut off, broken, fallen to produce a Kingdom harvest. Do any of us love to be broken? Heck no! But I have found that the greatest places of brokenness in my life have served God to produce more than I could ever imagine.
Who could have ever thought that the brokenness and death that an abortion causes could bring so much good? My heart is so full when I see instagrams of a precious life where God gave me the opportunity to share with a scared teen contemplating abortion. Although my Tanner was a seed that fell, a plentiful harvest of new life can be had because I allowed God to use my brokenness for His Kingdom's Harvest.
Maybe you're going through a hard season right now. Is divorce knocking on your door? Has infidelity been a part of your story? Does disease cripple your heart and mind? Are you in chronic pain? Maybe a loved one has seen death way to early? Do you bear the scars of abuse or the regret of addiction? Has your heart been broken by someone who was supposed to love you? Can I reassure you of one thing? God is not the author of any evil, whether it's evil that was brought upon you, or evil you chose. Ever since the Garden where Adam and Eve were given a choice, we have been choosing our own way ever since.
A truth that God has sealed to my heart because I have lived it, is that He can use any amount of pain, brokenness, or death to bring about LIFE. He will bring a harvest out of your pain if you will allow Him to give you the strength to share your story. God promises that He will bring good out of all things. Maybe you can't see that good right now. That's okay. Ask God to begin to show you the beauty even in the ugly that life gives. It may take awhile, but our God is patient, always desiring the fullest life for all He created.
So my encouragement to you is this: Allow God to begin to plant Kingdom seeds for harvest within the crazy story of your life. Allow yourself to be vulnerable by sharing your story so that someone might have "life" because of the "me too" that they shared with you. Sometimes the most encouraging part of our sharing our stories is that we know that we're not alone.
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