My family is broken. The family I grew up in as a little girl was broken too. My father was an alcoholic and could not even function enough to keep his job. He eventually stopped drinking, but then moved on to prescription medication addiction. He died when he was 63 of liver failure. He never met my youngest, Jonah, and I often think about how much fun they would have had together. My dad liked to have a good time, and so does Jonah.
Most families have some broken parts – broken relationships, broken marriages, broken children – because our families are made of human beings. Whether you want to believe it or not, we are all broken. We have trouble understanding sometimes why we have these imperfect lives and broken families when we love the Lord, and we believe He loves us.
Only God Himself can love us perfectly. No human being can love us like He does, and we are totally incapable of loving others the way He does, even with the very best and truest intentions. We are human, and in our sinful nature, we make a mess. We make a mess of family, marriage, relationships, jobs, and the list goes on.
Are you haunted by thoughts like this – I have made too much mess for God to ever restore me or my life? My family – the broken relationships – He will never bless us. He cannot fix this. These are lies from Satan. There is nothing that God’s love and power cannot restore if a body is obedient and willing.
Are you a fixer too? I have tried to fix the brokenness in my family and brokenness I see all around me. Can you relate? With the best of intentions, some of us think we can help bring broken relationships back together, but there is absolutely nothing you or I can do to mend what only God has the power to mend. God may use you, but only He can do this. Only He can fix what is broken in our lives.
Satan wants nothing more than for you to believe that your family is too broken to be blessed by God. And God wants nothing more than for you to know the power of His love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, and redemption. God is a God of restoration. He is all about fixing the broken parts of our lives and families and redeeming them for His glory. That is His goal – redemption. It is not shame. It is not condemnation. It is not defeat. It is redemption, made complete in Him. He is for us and He is for our families. We cannot let the lies of Satan drown out the victory we can have personally and that our families can have in Him. You are not too far gone. Your family is not too far gone. No one is ever out of His reach and there is no place that His love and mercy and grace cannot find us.
Remember these three things…
1. Hands off – give it to God.
2. Pray. And again. And again. Pray and don’t stop even when discouraged.
3. Love – unconditionally and be full of grace for everyone.
By Lara Cook
