Yesterday in the morning, I got up and sat by the window in my living room and lamented the way things have turned out. I looked back at the last 365 days, and I realized our family has experienced a great deal of heartache. Everywhere I look I see brokenness. None of the pieces fit together any more, and I just have no idea how to make it better. So, I opened up my hands with the palms facing upward, and I tried to offer God all my broken pieces once again.  

I am not good at waiting. I guess because I grew up in the age of microwaves and instant everything. I want to fix it now. 

I wish I could tell you that while I sit in the waiting room holding all the broken pieces I am peacefully at rest, but that is not the case.

In actuality, I am more of a Sara type. I want to make things happen at any cost.  

I think God needs my help.

I know He is the Savior of the world in my head, but sometimes that doesn’t drop down to my heart. So, I come up with contingency plans to save myself.

I think about what I can do differently and say better in hopes of changing things.

But then He puts me in a corner where I am helpless, and all of my scheming is unveiled.

He leaves me bare, and I realize that my way is lifeless.

When I demand my way, I end up with nothing.

I end up in the exact spot I feared to enter.

There in the darkness, I realize that I am not alone. My Heavenly Father speaks to me tenderly. He woos me to His side with words of compassion. He picks me up and lifts me out of the mire.

I lift up empty hands to Him, hand him all the broken pieces, and hope blooms again.

Maybe you are like me — reluctant to trust God with everything. Maybe you have schemed and tried to save yourself, too.

If you’ve landed in a dark place, I want to remind you that you don’t have to stay there. You can offer up your pain and brokenness to Him.

You don’t have to be a Sara type.

Let’s choose differently.

I want to join in with Anna. I want to take my grief and my loneliness and my shattered dreams and offer them up to God.

I want to worship with reckless abandon day and night.

I want to persist in praise.

I want to keep looking forward with hope for my Salvation.

Maybe this is what is means to lay down your life as a living sacrifice. You hand God all the pieces and decide to trust Him with your future no matter what.  

Lay me down, Lord. Make my life an altar. Take all my broken pieces and transform them. Transform me. Have Your way in me, Jesus.

How to Offer God All the Pieces

This week I was reading through Ephesians, and this verse gave me a new understanding of how I can live fully surrendered to God even when my life seems to be falling apart:  

…continue to walk surrendered to the extravagant love of Christ, for He surrendered His life as a sacrifice for us. His great love for us was pleasing to God, like an aroma of adoration—a sweet healing fragrance. (Ephesians 5:2, AMP)

Walk in Love Unselfishly

When we stop focusing on other people’s failures and meditate on how much we’ve ourselves have been forgiven, our perspective shifts from self righteous indignation to humility. Love is costly.  Love reaches in to show care and concern even when it’s hard.  

• “I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too are to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love and unselfish concern for one another.” (John 13:34-35, AMP)

Surrender Your Life Sacrificially

Laying our all on the altar means we let go of our need to control the outcome. Instead of demanding our way, we live fully devoted to God no matter what. We give way to Jesus and yield to His will with a worshipful heart, rather than wrestling to get what we want.

• “Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies dedicating all of yourselves, set apart as a living sacrifice, holy and well-pleasing to God, which is your rational, logical, intelligent act of worship.” (Romans 12:1, AMP)

Spread the Aroma of Christ Sweetly

The fire of God’s holiness purifies everything we’ve laid on the altar, and His fragrance is evident to everyone around us as a result. We are a sweet-smelling savor of salvation. Jesus has poured His love into us, and the scent of a transformed life impacts the atmosphere as we share the word of our testimony with others.

• “In a turbulent world where people are either dying or being rescued, we are the sweet smell of the Anointed to God our Father” (II Corinthians 2:15, VOICE)

Need more help to find the strength to offer God all the pieces? I’ve created a one-page printable to help you remember God is your refuge. Grab a copy and spend the next 7 days focusing on how your God has you covered no matter what. Sign up today as a member of the Wildfire Faith Community and  grab a copy in our Faith Fuel Library.

For the last few weeks, I’ve started my morning praying these words from a memorable hymn: “Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.”  When we offer God all the broken pieces, He takes our hands and lets them move at the impulse of His love. Our will becomes no longer ours, but. fully surrendered to the Savior who is seated on the throne in heaven. Nothing we offer to Jesus will be wasted, my friends. He will consume everything on the altar, and the aroma will ascend to heaven itself.  

Offer God all the broken pieces, and He will always bring beauty.

Let’s Chat: Do you struggle to offer God all the broken pieces?

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