Recently, I read a post on Facebook written by my sister-in-law, who is a principal at a Catholic school in Los Angeles. She was in Dollar Tree and there was a mother and two kids behind her in the long line. One of the children was a big kid, the other was a toddler. The bigger one had a pack of glow sticks and the baby was screaming for them, so the mom opened the pack and gave him one, which stopped his tears.
He walked around with it smiling, but then the bigger boy took it and the baby started screaming again. Just as the mom was about to fuss at the older child, he bent the glow stick and handed it back to the baby. As they walked outside, the baby noticed that the stick was now glowing and his brother said, “I had to break it so you could get the full effect from it.”
I almost ran because l could hear God saying to me, “I had to break you to show you why I created you. You had to go through it so you could fulfill your purpose.” That little baby was happy just swinging that “unbroken” glow stick around in the air because he did not understand what a glow stick was supposed to do: glow.
Many people will be content not trying to do anything. Just “being” is sufficient for them. However, there are some of us chosen by God — we have to be “broken.” We have to get sick. We have to lose a job. We go through divorce. We have to bury our parents, spouse, best friend or child because, in those moments of desperation, God is breaking us but when the breaking is done, we will be able to see the reason for which we were created.
Today, I would say that it was my broken past that caused me to be who I am today, one of God’s chosen vessels, writing my column for you each week, and sacrificing my time to prepare my radio show, sharing valuable information for the community. It is not easy to get a worthwhile column ready every week, year after year, but because of my brokenness, they just keep right on coming, and I am very thankful to be one of God’s chosen vessels.
God called Jeremiah in an incident, presented to us right at the beginning of his book. The word of the Lord came to him, saying, “I appointed you as a prophet to all the nations,” to which Jeremiah replies, “Sovereign Lord, I said I do not know how to speak. I am only a child.” But the Lord said to him, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you.”
It does not matter what we may have experienced in our lives, even when it seems we were broken. Many times, we are actually broken, but just know that it is that brokenness which humbles us. We are then right where the Heavenly Father needs us. We can help others because we have been there, and we came out better for it.
Never allow hard times to cause you to take your life, or cause you to want to stop living. There are indeed better days ahead — God chose you for such a time as this. The best is yet to come!
Lyndia Grant is a speaker/writer living in the D.C. area. Her radio show, “Think on These Things,” airs Fridays at 6 p.m. on 1340 AM (WYCB), a Radio One station. To reach Grant, go to her website, www.lyndiagrantshow.com, email lyndiagrantshowdc@gmail.com or call 240-602-6295. Follow her on Twitter @LyndiaGrant and on Facebook.