For years, my Dad has made small wooden cutouts of words during the Christmas season. He generally chooses a word for each year, such as “hope” or “home”, and makes hundreds of these little cutouts to give to friends and family. I have collected many over the years, of course, and have displayed them in different ways. Somehow, in the rearranging or dusting of the words, the word “faith” has gotten broken. Part of the “H” has fallen off and lays pitifully beside it. I dutifully try to wedge the “H” back into its proper place, but it always falls down again. My intentions are to glue it back together one day, but until then, my faith is broken.
It’s funny, but I usually say that to myself as I am dusting or walking by the words.
My Faith is Broken.
And do you know what? It’s true. Not just the word sitting on my shelf, but the faith that I walk in day in and day out.
My Faith is Broken.
It was broken when Hugh was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. It was broken when I had two miscarriages. It was broken when we lost family members too soon. It’s been broken so many times I can’t even count and I’m sure it will be broken many more.
My Faith is Broken.
That’s the thing about faith. It keeps getting broken over and over. And I guess I could throw it away at any point. I could let the “H” fall off, and then the “T”, and then the “I”, until all the letters have crumbled away. But I don’t. I keep working at it and wedging the “H” back in place. I prop it up and display it proudly. I know it’s broken, and I’m ok with that.
You see, I don’t really think we can call it faith until we have seen it broken. It’s in the moments of our greatest despair, when we feel like God has abandoned us and we are all alone, that our faith becomes what it is. Stronger. Bolder. Forged together in hope and love.
My Faith is Broken.
We are all broken, dear friends. Some are hiding their brokenness. Some are moving on. Some are in their darkest moments of a broken faith.
But that’s also the beautiful thing about a faith that is broken. Once it happens in your life, you begin to recognize it in others.
My Faith is Broken.
And maybe yours is, too. But that’s ok. We’ll help you wedge the pieces back together and display it proudly. There’s no shame in a broken faith – Only God’s Loving Hands, using His Grace to help us glue the “H” back in place, as many times as we need.
