Broken Crayons Still ColorShembull

Recently, when visiting my nieces in Florida, I got down on the floor to color with them. They love the Disney princesses, and so we were coloring a picture of Cinderella.

When we opened their container of crayons, a burst of colors greeted us.

These were well-worn crayons that had been used to color dozens of pictures. 

I chose a broken and worn-out green crayon.

In our throwaway society, it would be easy to think that the work of this crayon was done. That it needed to be replaced with a brand-new crayon instead.

However, as I began to color with this broken worn-out crayon, my nieces looked at me and told me my coloring page was beautiful.

Because, you see, broken crayons still color.

Just like that broken worn-out crayon, we can also feel useless to God because of the mistakes we have made or the things that have been done to us.

We feel broken and ugly and useless.

We think God would rather have someone else do His work. Someone with less brokenness and baggage. Someone who has it all together.

The truth is, we all have brokenness in our lives. Many times we compare our blooper reel to someone else's highlight reel.

The truth is no one has a perfect life.

And just like that broken crayon, God is always able to use our brokenness to create something beautiful.

A masterpiece.

Many times what we see as our biggest mistakes and failures can become what God uses the most.

However, the enemy in our minds often tells us we are worthless and no longer useful for God's kingdom.

Little do we know that God is using our brokenness to create something more beautiful than we could ever imagine.

Prayer: 

Lord, thank you that you never waste anything that has happened in our lives. I thank you that you can turn my brokenness into something beautiful even when I cannot see it. Help me to open my heart to you and allow you to bring healing and freedom. I love you. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.