Sometimes, God has to let us break...

Sometimes, God has to let us break to piece us back together again.

That's what I learned from our dryer today.

It still worked. It still powered up. It still lit up with colorful buttons.

But, it wasn't heating the clothes. In essence, it wasn't doing its job.

It was broken.

It didn't choose to break. Just like we do not choose to break.

But, amidst each of our lives, more than once, we all find ourselves at the point of cracking... ...shattered... ...splintered... ...crushed... ...fragmented... ...defeated...

Sometimes, we feel as though God has tossed us into a pile of ashes, leaving for ruins. Sometimes, we feel as though God has knocked us right off our feet, face-first, on the earth's dust below. Sometimes, we feel as though God has completely crushed us, into an infinite amount of pieces.

Sometimes, there is no way around the storm. Sometimes, He just has to let us cry and push through the pain. Sometimes, He simply has to let us break.

But, our Father? He is not a Father Who abandons.

He is not a Father Who leaves His ashes to blow away in the wind. He is not a Father Who forgets to carry His children. He is not a Father Who leaves us shattered, in microscopic particles.

No, our Father is still good. Oh, so magnificently good.

And He does, and wants to continue to do, great things for each of us. Oh so many amazing things.

Because, every moment of brokenness? Lies a hidden opportunity for growth. For learning. For bettering ourselves.

That without the bending, cracking and collapsing, our eyes would never have seen.

For, out of the ashes, He calls us to rise, in beauty. From the dust below, He calls us to stand up, better and stronger than ever before. And amidst the shattered pieces, He calls us to crawl back into His hands, as our Potter, so He can mold us back together, once more.

More whole. More restored. More forgiven. More humbled. More redeemed. More perfectly imperfect, than ever before.

Because, even when it feels like God has completely broken your heart...

...not yielding something you felt He promised to you...not hearing your whispered prayers...

... you can trust in His goodness.

You can still anchor in the truth that every single thing He does or does not do for us, is for your good, and for His glory.

And what extraordinary comfort that should bring.

For, whether or not you can see Him working, you can be sure He is. You can be rest-assured that He knows and feels our broken hearts; that He is intimately familiar with our struggles and our fears. And He will never for once leave us without helping us through them; whether it be now, or in our eternity with Him to come, He promises to heal us of it all, and bring us to full restoration in Him.

It can be so hard to trust God with your broken heart, when you feel like He is the One Who broke it. But, we absolutely can. As long as we remember that God is forever good and faithful. He does good. And, He is working all things in our life for good, even when our eyes cannot see the work before us.

Sometimes, God has to let us break to piece us back together again. That's what I learned from our dryer today.

Yet, when life brings you to an absolute pile of ruins, you can take heart in knowing, the One Who created you from mere dust, most certainly knows how to piece you back together, once again.

...for maybe we are not actually broken...

...perhaps, instead, we are simply unfinished, forever-clay in our Heavenly Potter's hands...