November 6, 2023

Reflections – God Loves Broken People

Have you ever considered how God uses broken people? I had the privilege this past week of attending an annual benefit luncheon for the Highway 80 Rescue Mission in Tyler, Texas. This organization is dedicated to caring for the homeless, the“street people” in East Texas. The keynote speaker was Elisa Morgan, who served as President of MOPS International for over 20 years. MOPS stands for “Mothers of Pre-Schoolers.” I came away so very impressed with her message. You see, even though she is known and admired around the world for her role at MOPS, hers has not been a trouble-free life. And it was that other side of her journey that she chose to focus on.

Her message to the Rescue Mission audience suggested that each of our lives is in some way similar. We are all “broken people” who likely come from “broken” families. Without going into the personal details she shared, here is the core of what Mrs. Morgan had to say.

1. We all come from “broken” families. It began with Adam and Eve, who experienced the horror of one child (Cain) who took the life of another child (Abel). All through the Bible, we read of broken families. I think particularly of the prodigal son who became a homeless street person before he returned to the house of his father.
2. God loves the “broken.“ He offers hope to the broken if we will but listen. He loves the broken so much that he sent a Son to experience brokenness as forecast in Isaiah 53:5. In fact, His plan for bringing us back into a relationship with Him is a plan that functions through brokenness! Broken people are put back together, but they do not go back together the same way they were initially. They are repaired differently than they were, fit for Godly service. They experience a “new normal” that is different from their “old normal.”
3. God uses broken people to accomplish His purposes: broken bread, broken ship, broken fishing net, and broken body. In fact, it is our brokenness that qualifies us to be used by God. God repairs us and then uses us, although most of us do not know what to do with our brokenness until we meet Jesus, who is the evidence of redemption. Remember John 3:16. It expresses the profound love God has for each of us who have experienced brokenness.

We all experience brokenness on a personal level. God loves the broken. He uses them for His purposes. What more might we desire than a God who loves us and has proven it by sending his Son to lead us home?

Blessings and peace,

Chaplain Allen
chaplain@nationsu.edu
chaplainscorner.org

Source: Based on a keynote address to the Highway 80 Rescue Mission in Tyler, Texas, in April 2018. The address can also be viewed via a search for Elisa Morgan on YouTube.

Read more Reflections: Chaplain’s Corner.