THE BROKEN AND THE BROKENHEARTED

God's Holy Tools of Art

John 16:33 from words of Christ: “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

I Corinthians 1:27: “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.”

In our glorious Western culture, we are not supposed to have trouble, it is not to be seen or allowed, how gauche! We are commanded to have everything in order, no muss or fuss or certainly no dismay.

We are prodded to be serene, with no potholes, stumbles, mud pits, foraging into darkness, saunters into sorrow, doubts, fears, blasted blunders. “ Thanks, but no, I did not order this messing of my perfection... How dare you, dastardly trouble, come near my perfect frame??”

Sigh...

Nay, the smooth is “it” and we are hotly pressured to have it...despite the stern lessons of human history. Once you pick up a real history book...it is stark from all directions, humans in trouble, causing trouble, fending off trouble, and aimlessly wishing it away won’t help (see blunt Oregon girl for testimony of this…chapter 999,999.) When I worked as a library Page, shelving books, I sorrowfully remember what I called the “war aisle”, area 940 in the Dewey decimal system of non-fiction shelving...that was stark from one end to another, especially WW2, and the staggering human cost.

Well, about that pronouncement for “smooth”...nope, Nope and NOPE.

Smooth is a temporary misnomer, as the storms of the world land in your lap and so rudely disrupt you. Sometimes the storms are rather LARGE and impertinent, like a hurricane.

Reality...blunt, searing, uncomfortable, displacing, messy, raw, inconvenient, rude, I say...and yet the “peaceable fruit of righteousness” comes out of it..from Hebrews 12:11. This is a difficult passage and not easily manifested...as this comes after one has been “chastened” of the Lord. Chastened relates to correction. (Oh joy…)

I rebel, I do not want chastening...scary, being dismantled...being thrown off our secure corner, or at least the one we think is secure...and yet the prize is not secured by the mental state alone. God does not work like humans work!

Perhaps that’s why I was stoned for so many years...reality did not agree with me, nor I with it. Chasing drugs (mostly marijuana) took up huge swathes of my limited life, a deeply distressing memory. Rebellion is stirred into the mess and that makes it even worse, as drugs blur the edges so you cannot effectively even see them and can take a tumble right off the cliff ( I have most definitely been there). I am SO glad to be sober in all ways, since 2002.

Sudden deaths of two immediate family members, friends of my rowdy youth dying of unpleasant plagues, one by one, party ending in tears, losing two places to live in five years due to financial struggles, scrambling for grounding while in the midst of a wide and scary sea...all the thrown- together plans made on the fly in desperation, not workin’ out so great. The world can be a scary place (look at 2025…)

I often feel out of place...like I don’t belong, I will never fit in. I do not resonate with many, have been a strange combo of dad’s daughter, the rough-hewn loner...and yet mom’s much wanted and prayed-for daughter after two sons, only to see her ripped away from me overnight by a stroke when I was just shy of 14.

1 Corinthians 1:27 always drew me in...like a comforting blanket...that “God hath chosen the foolish things of the world, to confound the wise and the weak things of the workd to confound the things which are mighty.”

I have clung in desperation to that verse.

God spoke this line to me a few nights ago, as we had our nightly fellowship, me with my pen and notebook: “ I use the broken and the brokenhearted as My holy tools of art...no ego, no arrogance, no overconfidence, humble beyond the humble...you are one.”

God’s words... Wow, Papa...where to begin??? This petrifies me.

Still, I feel like an outcast, a weirdo, an eccentric that almost nobody “gets”…

That’s how loners are, yes? I certainly did not expect to live to be old...and yet I just turned 73...(it’s a plot, I tell you!)

Just watching the utter chaos of the world...it is scary stuff right now..

I do grip, holding fast to Papa’s hand. Seeing the worldly mess, the devil strolling about, pouring gasoline on the fire... it is just what we don’t need...

If God tells me He uses the broken AND the brokenhearted...that is huge, huge, huge! This is not polite parlor tricks or “churchianity”.

Nope, this is the real sheer RAWNESS of the Gospel, “repent and be saved”...where God and His Son throw down the gauntlet (a warring tool, not tidy!), and say “world, heave to! Judgment is coming, get your house in order, throw off the impediments that weigh you down with heaviness, brokenness.” Christ Himself charged directly into the fray, even with His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane...praying with such intensity, He sweated drops of blood. His wrenching prayers to His Father were tormented...and yet God knew this was the only way to mend the rift between humans and their Creator God. I may gently remind you, Christ died on that tree...but He was resurrected on the 3rd day, as He strode through the depths of hell, set the captives free and commandeered the keys of death and of hell. In other words, HE TRIUMPHED, on behalf of all us sorrowful “hoomans”.

The Casino is soon closing...and time to balance accounts and get refreshed and in order.

Do I want this battle, despite my bluntness and still-sharp tongue??

No.

But I do want God, His beloved Son, Holy Spirit and the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Nothing I have done in 73 yrs of life on this rock, has produced enough of that. Dogged pursuit, plodding through the muddy mire, carrying a huge heavy bag on my slender shoulders, battling and arguing fruitlessly...headaches, sorrow, financial lack and my way only brought a whole lot of nothin’. I’m sorry, kids, it does not work. I’ve lived it, I’ve slammed into it and been slammed by it...and the devil is a LIAR and the father of lies, as Christ called him.

Perhaps God’s way is better…ya think??

Wendy Elizabeth Williams, Friday, November 7, 2025

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