What is brokenness? That is a question I’ve often posed. In my previous blogs I wrote about how God is showing us through 2020 hindsight that we are meant for something more.  Armed with that knowledge we are poised to see life through 2020 vision and experience it as God intended.  We no longer need to live in the void entangled by our individual and global predicaments.  Rather we can embrace real hope and the rest that overcomes all the weariness.  We can know what it means to be home in the Garden where unconditional love is the order of the day.  But such love requires something of us.  It requires that we accept God’s invitation to a love story and embark on an inward journey by way of the Bridge of Brokenness.

Brokenness can be viewed as a loaded term.  Honestly, it sounds painful so why would anyone want to undergo it?  Well, the kind of brokenness I’m talking about has spiritual connotations.  Simply put, it means surrendering one’s individual will to God’s will so that our soul can be restored.  In other words, brokenness is God’s way of tearing us down so he can build us back up in His image. It is through this deconstruction process that we are made whole once again.  Just like a horse that needs to be tamed to follow the rider’s will, our will needs to be tamed to follow God’s.  Only in this way can we authentically say “not my will, but yours be done.”  Brokenness is God’s way to invite us to the journey back home in the garden.

I initially experienced brokenness in a very deep way in January 2010 and ended up spending the majority of that year in what I call “spiritual ICU”.  But I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything.  You see, God used that time to prepare me for a seven year journey from the Wasteland to the Garden. I’m not going to sugar coat it. Yes, brokenness hurts! Precisely because it’s not a one-time event; it is a perpetual state of being. Be careful not to fall into that ‘onetime event’ trap of the enemy. The enemy will try to convince you that brokenness is only needed once and after that all discipline by God is unjust. Don’t buy that lie. Remember the adage, God disciplines those He loves! Well it’s true.  Brokenness will always be a part of the lives of those who journey from the Wasteland to the Garden as it is the very thing that sets us free from the mental, physical and spiritual bondage of the world.  Brokenness is the bridge that leads home and we walk that bridge daily.

Do you see now how the picture of this love story between God and us begins to come into focus? It now reads more like a rescue mission where Jesus is the rescuer; a groom looking to rescue his bride by carrying her home over the bridge of brokenness. God is trying to rescue His children from this corrupt world by romancing us into a love story. Corruption is dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power and I believe that is exactly what God showed us in 2020.  He wants us to use that 2020 vision in 2021 to realize we are not home in this world. God is telling us it is time to leave this world and brokenness is our way out! 

So here is my encouragement to you for 2021. Take that 2020 vision God gave us from last year and receive it with joy. See it as Jesus (the groom) asking you (His bride) out on your first date. Let Him begin walking you across the ‘Bridge of brokenness’; His gift to you. And as you begin the crossing of the bridge of brokenness that leads back home, do your best to enjoy that gift and consider it pure joy to walk with Him no matter how painful it seems or what trouble may come your way. Enjoy the vulnerability that comes with being on the date. I promise you it will be the most alluring love story you will experience on this earth, one that begins now and lasts through eternity!

Dario L. Perla