He uses everything

This morning, me and two of my closest friends gathered together at my kitchen table with some hot coffee, breakfast cookies, and some really difficult parts of life. We’ve known each other since college and have shared some of our best and hardest moments with each other over the years.

Today, very difficult things were shared. My dear friend is going through a hard season. We listened, supported, spoke truth, prayed, and danced in my kitchen. While our stories differ in the details, we share similar themes of breaking free from chains and stepping into a life of freedom.

In our own unique ways we’re each taking off the masks and letting go of the need to please, perform, and produce. We’re naming and peeling away of all of the ways that legalism, fundamentalism, and patriarchy have harmed within the church. We’re learning how to step into a life of grace. We’re letting ourselves be seen. We’re ripping up the blueprint of what “should” be and being ok with is.

Let me tell you, this is so hard, but so good. The dance party we had said it all. 🙂

God wastes nothing

I am reminded, in this season, that our good Father wastes nothing. He uses everything to accomplish his purposes… even the difficult things we have no idea what to do with. All things work together for our good and his glory.

God wastes nothing. He uses everything. He works in the awkward conversations we didn’t know how to handle, the presentation we fumble through, the tears we shed when we let others see that we’re human too, the messy part of life that we wished looked a little more put together. For a recovering perfectionist, and someone who hates failing, this is GREAT NEWS!

For if he uses everything, then even our mishaps and mistakes can be used for good. Even our sin can be used for good! Even harm within the church and all the ways people of faith have misused and misspoken the word of God. Yes, even THIS could quite possibly be used.

We see this throughout the Bible. God’s people constantly fail and sin and hurt each other (read the book of Genesis for example), yet God always has a way of using things that are broken and painful to bring about some kind of good. Sometimes we don’t see that good until much later…we may not even see it in this life at all.

I love the way John Baillie prays it: “Thank you that it is your gracious will to make use of me, even at my weakest, to fulfill your mighty purpose for the world.”

Today, the hard parts of my friend’s story brought us all together around my kitchen table. It brought us close and gave opportunity to let each other in. If nothing else, it’s the hard things that bring us close, that make us need each other. This, just this alone, is a good and beautiful thing.

God wastes nothing. He uses everyting. Even in death and decay he brings new life…