b r o k e n

“as I sit in my car after viewing the RONE exhibition at the Geelong Gallery, I find myself literally contemplating my life and the what next. I am returning to work in 3 days and I can’t think of anything worse.”

WOAH.. I found this quote sitting alone in this blog post. How so much has changed in the time I wrote it. Sure more lockdowns later, followed by a new motor in my car, loss of another family member and almost half way through another year. Man time really does fly….whether you’re having fun or not.

Except for those 10 days. But 10 days is another blog post for another day.

Today I love my job. I do it for the impact I can have on moulding the next generation of humans. Some may even be inspired to become artists themselves. Regardless of what direction their lives move in, my biggest hope and prayer is that they would know Jesus….personally.

The biggest roadblock in this journey….a broken world full of hurting broken people.

When I read this quote this morning and started to write this blog I had no idea where it was going or the artwork that would support it. I have been silent for some time believing I couldn’t write anymore. Believing I couldn’t get back to my art and taking my blog off-line. Leaning into the frustration around work dynamics…not the students and staff, but other stuff…. Mostly. But also leaning into my broken story of the next thing I have to do to move through my brokenness to healing.

And then to my surprise the gift of freedom became a thing in my life.

Healing followed by spiritual attack will change your perspective, long story for another time, but getting the blog back up being one of the first things I needed to get done.

The world is too broken to allow the enemy to have dialogue with you on the journey you are on. The principalities are in constant battle only allowing us to experience some parts of the bigger broken picture we couldn’t possibly imagine.

I hear you out there in blog land.

What about my abuse or being abandoned. Or loss of life, loved ones, property, love, hopelessness, fatherless, motherless, orphaned, childlessness, loss of health, wealth, home, broken families, even loss of country and dignity. This world can be cruel, and it is because of the brokenness of humanity, but even in its brokenness it has great breathtaking beauty….

YOU

You make it worth moving forward into my day. Sure I am not always thinking of you personally, but God is and you are his No. 1. He is your No.1 fan. Stay with me here.

Take a moment and think of all the people you know or interact with. Maybe it might be the person sitting next to you on public transport, walking past you on the street, serving you food, selling you or giving you a drink or a meal, or your neighbour. Yep that person. God is personally interested and invested in them and you you, each and every one of us, each and every person on earth. He is so huge that what he’s been doing in your life, he’s meeting them where they are on their journey too. He’s not taking time off when he’s working with you or working on someone else. His omnipresence nature is personal because of his great love for you. For each one of us.

You see, the brokenness of the world has clouded our ability to see past our own stuff and circumstances and other peoples behaviour towards us to see the value of other people. It’s clouded our view of God so we only see the broken parts of ourselves and others and no longer see how God sees us and the beauty in his greatest creation. YOU. This brokenness holds us in our own historical pain and suffering. I have come to know the only way I can live free from almost three quarters of that broken list above is because of Jesus.

The enemy of Jesus has no hold on me because I know my God is as personally invested in my story as he is in yours. That blows my mind and my understanding of how immensely huge God is. No story is too small or too big or too broken or too many for God to change.

What have you got to lose if you gave your story to God to carry? I am not promising it will be easy to walk with Jesus as your teacher and healer. But it is worth it. Oh friend, it’s worth it!