How God met me on the shoreline

We walked the shoreline one morning last week looking for shells that were worth keeping. The tide was out, so the sandy part of the beach seemed massive. Yet few shells seemed colored uniquely or shaped wholly enough to put in the plastic buckets.

Except to Ben.

He found broken pieces of shells with different colors. He gathered small shells that were perfectly shaped. He wanted pieces that looked like they could be images of animals – you know, like when a kid interprets the clouds’ designs.

Just because a shell was broken didn’t disqualify it from Ben’s bucket.

Usually one to be where the party is, Ben wandered more slowly than the others or detoured from the group. It was then when he discovered treasures.

We were on a morning walk on the beach, gathering natural souvenirs. But God met me there, cueing Ellie Holcomb’s song called “The Broken Beautiful” as the soundtrack for the moment my heart needed to soak in.

I know that I don't bring a lot to the table

Just little pieces of a broken heart

There’s days I wonder if You'll still be faithful

Hold me together when I fall apart?

Would You remind me now of who You are?

That Your love will never change,

that there's healing in your name

That You can take broken things,

and make them beautiful

You took my shame

And You walked out of the grave

So Your love can take broken things

and make them beautiful …

{Ellie Holcomb in “The Broken Beautiful”}

Ben was right. It didn’t matter if the shells were whole because even the broken pieces had beauty.

Our lives are the same way. None of us are whole. But we’re holy.

We’re set apart, which sometimes means we venture away from the crowd. We all have our own damage and hurt and disappointments and fears. But over time the tides ebb and flow, washing away the jagged edges and making the fragments smoother.

God tells us to bring to him all of those pieces – the conflict among people you love, the dispute with people you once called friends, the phone call that has never come, the waiting, the best friend whose hurt stirs up your past, and the busyness that haunts your summer. Despite our tendencies, we don’t need to be anxious because he hears our prayers and gives us peace that passes all our understanding. {Phil. 4:6-7}

He prepared us for this. {Ephesians 2:10}

He’s not done yet. {Phil. 1:6}

He has a plan for me and you. {Jeremiah 29:11}

And it’s going to be good. {Romans 8:28}

Like my boy with his shells on the shoreline, God gathers up all the pieces of our lives, knowing they’re worth keeping. Yes, some are pointy and others are dusty, but God covers them all with love and grace and compassion and mercy and forgiveness and peace.
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With this post, I'm joining the weekly Soli Deo Gloria Gathering, where brokenness is believed to be beautiful. 

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