By Mary Lindow As you settle in to listen to this podcast, maybe you’re facing difficult times and you wonder how God can still have a plan for your messy, hurting, perhaps disillusioned life. What about your loved ones, or those in the neighborhood around you? There’s so much brokenness that it can feel like anything you do to help is like a drop in the ocean. I certainly have had several moments this past season, months, days even, of being broken, disillusioned, angry, all the emotions that can go with hearing terrible stories of betrayal, clergy abuse, child abuse, adult children being estranged from parents, parents being estranged from their adult children, walking many from sadness over deep wounds from past relationships, festering with anger, guilt and shame. This service of working with broken people that God has called us to, (and me specifically these past couple of years as a Biblical pastoral Counselor), well, seeing and hearing the sadness, can wear you thin at times, and I go running to the feet of Christ over and over again, asking him to make sense of how humanity can be so vicious and destroy one another. Of course Jesus came to die for all of us, and in fact was broken, beaten, bruised and yes, he wept. So He knows the anguish and grief that can tow us under! The Lord has always been close to those who are crushed and broken, right from the very start.   Brokenness Doesn’t Distract Or Hinder God. He extends endless compassion and love to us, even when we are feeling absolutely crushed. When we don’t want anyone to see our brokenness, our shame, He is always close, never with judgment but always with kindness. The kind of kindness that heals. The question is: “Does brokenness have any purpose?” Or is it a hindrance to God’s plans and promises? Can God Turn Our Brokenness Into Something Beautiful?   In Matthew 26, Jesus had His last meal with the disciples before He went to suffer on the cross. Now, even though I’ve read this passage many times, something rich recently stood out. “As they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, ‘Take and eat it; this is my body’. (Matthew 26:26). First, Jesus took the bread, Then He blessed it, And then He broke it.   Now, I thought to myself … “Why would He not first take the bread, break it and then bless it?”   There’s A Purpose To Why Jesus Did It This Way. The blessing comes before the breaking, because this was the theme of Jesus’ life: Jesus was blessed by the Father and the Spirit during His baptism (Matthew 3:16-17). Jesus endured the brokenness on the cross (Luke 23:26-39). And, Jesus conquered death through His resurrection and then ascended to the right hand of the Father. This is the greatest blessing for believers because we are united with Christ and fully restored to God!  (Ephesians 1:20; Ephesians 2:4-6).   Blessed Then Broken Then Blessed again. That's the pattern.   Maybe You’re In A Season Where You Feel More Broken Than Blessed. I understand. But because God has blessed us with His Son, every ounce of brokenness we experience on this side of eternity is pointing us toward the blessing of heaven, where we will be reunited with Christ, if we trust in Him. God also redeems our current brokenness as a means of blessing others who are also broken (2 Corinthians 1:4). We Can Know With Confidence That When We Endure Brokenness And Pain, There Isn’t An Ounce Of Our Brokenness That Is Not Under The Blessing Of God!   This Is A Hard Truth To Grasp. It may even be something we want to reject because it feels unfair or even cruel! I agree that it can feel that way. Even Jesus Himself agrees. Just a few verses after the Last Supper, He prayed in the garden of Gethsemane and cried out, “I am deeply grieved to the point of death” (Matthew 26:38a, CSB). We don’t have to dismiss our feelings when it comes to our brokenness. Even Jesus felt the full range of His emotions before His most bro