It’s a rare moment when we can look at something which is broken and find the beauty in the midst of the chaos. Yet, that is exactly what the Father sees when He looks our way. He sees who we are meant to be. He sees us through the stains of red flowing from the throne of grace, covering us in our mess and washing us white as snow.
Genesis 16:13 says, “You are the God who sees me”, and friends he is looking our way. He is interested in our living moments. Listen to this affirmation that sometimes we just need to HEAR:
You are seen.
You matter.
Even in your mess, you are beautiful because He sees your value and He shines through you!
Though you are broken, praise God, there is beauty in the humility we wear as a result of it.
When God tells us to behold, He shows us what He is seeing.
This word He has chosen for me for 2015, BEHOLD, has been the opposite of what I could have expected. He is teaching me the power in the seeing, intimately looking first to Him and then through Him towards each situation. It is disarming to look this close, but the deeper I peer into His truth, the clearer my sight becomes.
Looking with eyes dimmed by our own world standards, we fail to perceive the situation correctly. We are easily fooled by our senses, our limited knowledge, our vain hopes. But thankfully, in His patience, He is diligent to disciple us… to pull us in and teach us the truth.
When the light of His countenance is refracted, the image displayed before us comes dark. We don’t see the real picture, we begin to believe a lie. We let the false images, warped and misshapen by limited illumination, steal the power of being broken before God. We lose the power of grace in these moments, not the grace that is extended to us but the ability to extend it ourselves, and ultimately to the ability to look at that which is broken and hurt before us and see the beauty deep within, we may just miss the story of redemption He is leading us to.
Brokenness is overflowing with beauty. It is redemptive by design.
Brokenness is beautiful because when we are crushed we are also exposed. Friends, exposed to God is the safest place we will ever find ourselves. In our brokenness and humility we become an appealing sight.
But this is the man to whom I will look and have regard: he who is humble and of a broken spirit, and who trembles at My Word and reveres My commands.~ Isaiah 66:2
When God sheds light onto the mountain of our mess, the chaos that seems to become revealed when our nerves are taut and our tanks are empty… He is showing us how to turn our eyes upon Him and behold, looking purposefully as He does.
When the beholding of our hearts becomes the masterpiece of His redemption we are changed. Our eyes can no longer look upon the view in front of us and see as we have seen before because we now look through LOVE.
Countless moments have passed by me this last week, many moments of learning hard lessons. I have sat here at my computer writing words that were meant to bring blessing, but I have had to walk away because I wanted to make sure that what I wrote would be something I was also living out. In those lessons I was seeing not only the mess before me but my reaction to it, which wasn’t always what I had hoped it would be.
I have heard that still small voice calling me to pray, to seek, to wait, because He was giving me new eyes; eyes to see. And I am so thankful for his mercy in those moments where my reality collided with his beholding.
In this place of beholding,I am struck by the beauty of brokenness and the power of humility in action.I am undone by the deep gaze of the One who sees me, really truly sees me.
Yet in the moments of our broken-heartedness, when forgiveness is hard to give and wounds are deep, He looks deep into our mess and sees the fragment of hope; he heals the shattered and jagged edges and binds our wounds with the salve of grace.
When LOVE is fully known in our hearts, then we are given sight to see anew. We are shown a portion, we are shown OUR portion and it makes it possible to wear grace in our words and in our prayers, so that we can extend hope in moments where hopelessness, unforgiveness, unloveliness abounds.
I am learning something that I was afraid to consider previously, a reality that is easy to miss in our positive Facebook status and our perfect Pinterest pictures…Life is messy, and it is ok, because…Sometimes our mess is the beginning of His beautiful in us.
Yes.. I said that. Life is a connection of messy little dots that create a beautiful landscape when it is all said and done. The truth is the calamity of your life may just be the opportunity for your miracle to be manifested. Or perhaps it is the start of someone else’s miracle, and isn’t that just like God to let us be a part of someone else’s blessing by living transparently?
God creates order out of chaos and He redeems beauty in our brokenness.
As He looks to us in our mess, the humility that we return is actually appealing to God because He sees beyond the broken pieces to the perfected you in the end. His beauty establishes us and changes or mess into a mosaic of wonder.
” Let the beauty of the Lord be upon us: establishing the work of our hands.”~Psalm 90:17
When we let God into our messes, we are liberated to share His grace better. The broken pieces, the ashes that are remnants of hopes and goals which are tripping us up, as we give them freely to the Lord He replaces them with the ornament of beauty.
This mess we see, is really reflecting the power of redemption as we Behold the One that makes all things new…. especially the broken pieces.
I dare you friends to Live as one who is Beheld by the God who makes your mess beautiful.
Linking up with daring believers this week:
SDG, MADM, Playdates with God, Unite, Inspire Me Monday, Coffee For your Heart, #TellHisStory. Three Word Wednesday
Visiting from the MADM linkup. Thank you for your inspiration and encouragement. Sometimes when we are in the midst of brokenness, we forget that God is our glue.
Oh, yes, Michelle. He is the glue! That is good!
Thanks so much for sharing!
Blessings,
Dawn
“Sometimes our mess is the beginning of His beautiful in us.”
So true. It is in our brokenness that we seek Him and in our brokenness that He sees beauty.
Donna
visiting from #TellHisStory
Though I cringe at my brokenness, Donna, I am grateful that He is fixing those in me. Gently, ever so gently, though, as only our merciful Father can.
Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings,
Dawn
Dare I say it, Dawn? Dare I say that I think….I actually think this is my very most FAVORITE thing EVER that you have written and shared? I love every single thing that ever comes from your heart ~ because I know Jesus placed it there and gave you ALL you need to share it just the way that He would want! But this….THIS! This is just something that strikes me at the very core as to what I feel He wants to get through to every single one of us. Thank you – you bless my heart! Annie B 🙂
Ah.. Annie. 🙂 Your encouragement it touches me. Thank you! It is good to have those who speak the language of the heart He is mending. I appreciate you, your words, and your passion to love God with ALL you have.
Bless you friend!
Dawn
It is amazing that we have God who sees me. He not only sees the world but all of us, as individual. Thank you for the reminder!
So glad you stopped by Joanna! It is amazing this sovereign omniscient God of all we see and all we can’t understand, He sees us. He stops and takes time with us. It is overwhelming actually…. mindblowing is adequate. 🙂
Bless you!
Dawn
“He sees who we are meant to be.” YES! I needed this. Thanks for this message of encouragement and for linking up at #ThreeWordWednesday.
He sees so much in you, Kristin! And He is doing big things through your willingness to serve Him.
Bless you!
Dawn
So beautiful, Dawn! Praise God that His grace is sufficient, that His strength is made perfect in our weakness, and that when He sees us, He does not see the brokenness of our sin, but the perfect righteousness of His Son.
Thanks so much for visiting and commenting on Saved by Grace!
Your blog is a blessing and I am now following it, and I invite you to follow Saved by Grace also:
http://savedbygracebiblestudy.blogspot.com/
Love in Him,
Laurie Collett
Thank you Laurie! I really enjoyed visiting you today. His grace is an amazing gift to us, isn’t it? But we can’t hold it back, we have to pass it on. That really is the point of the gospel message, bringing liberty through His gift of grace.. the promise that Jesus fulfilled. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings,
Dawn
I am speaking at a women’s event this Feb on this very issue and I love how God is bringing me words that reaffirm and speak truth into this soul. LOVE this thought Dawn: “Sometimes our mess is the beginning of His beautiful in us.” Amen!
I am so glad to have been an encouragement to you and the words He gave me to share were an affirmation to you. I will pray for you as you speak in February. Speaking into the hearts of women is truly one of my favorite things to do! May He equip you and fill you as you pour into them.
Blessings,
Dawn
Such beautiful words, Dawn! I am so thankful you stopped by and left encouragement behind on my blog, so I could find you. I needed to read this…to be reminded that there is glory in the cross, that there is beauty in my brokenness. Over the past three and a half years, my family and I have been broken…more like crushed to powder, but oh, in the crushing! We have found a deeper, more intimate walk and view and, yes, a BEHOLDING of the face of Jesus Christ! I could SO relate to all you said here..it was wonderfully edifying to me today. God knew what He was doing when He allowed our paths to cross. May He bless you abundantly!
I am glad you were able to visit, Cheryl. I will lift your dear family in my prayers. Keep writing such encouraging words of blessing, you touch many with your deep abiding faith.
Bless you!
Dawn
Dawn, there’s always so much truth in your words that I read and re-read them. And I always leave feeling challenged…in the absolute best, most grace-filled, encouraged way. Perhaps because I’m so reserved, even to the point of being closed off at times, these words really spoke to me: “The truth is the calamity of your life may just be the opportunity for your miracle to be manifested. Or perhaps it is the start of someone else’s miracle, and isn’t that just like God to let us be a part of someone else’s blessing by living transparently?” Thank you for sharing from your heart. Your transparency is a blessing and an inspiration. ♥
Tarissa,
I am so thankful for your voice, your encouragement, and your willingness to share. Thanks for spending time here, with me… and at the Table of Grace. I value you.
Blessings,
Dawn
I am growing rather fond of your word, Dawn. 🙂 Such beauty in this post. I just love your heart. I love YOU!
My friend Beth,
I appreciate you. Just want you to know that. Thank you for your encouragement, for the light you shine. You are an image of His joy and tender grace and I count you a blessing.
Love,
Dawn
My friend Beth,
The Feeling is mutual! 😉
Bless you !
Dawn
I have learned to pray for God’s perspective, His sight – that I may behold what He does. This is often the only way I can move out of anxiety or into forgiveness. Love the word, Dawn.
That is perfect, Jen. Praying for perspective in the midst of our broken places, moving us from one place in to the other is beautiful! Love it!
Thanks for sharing.
Bless you friend!
Dawn
“I am undone by the deep gaze of the One who sees me…” I LOVED this. Thanks for sharing your heart! (Hopping over from Angie Ryg’s Inspire Me Monday!)