Lover of the broken rose

Wounded.

Hurt.

Insecure.

Rejected.

Lonely.

Forgotten.

Torn down.

Used.

Dirty.

We've all been there, haven't we?  I know I have, but the thing about it is that we don't have to stay there.  I know the One who has pulled me out of these things, and He can do the same for you.

Tuesdays are Bible Study days.  My group is going through the book, The Mingling of Souls by Matt Chandler.  It is a video series that is a study of attraction, love, marriage, and redemption from Song of Solomon.  Chandler is very insightful and entertaining.  He makes sense.  Week after week, we are all slapped in the face with hard subjects that bring out raw honesty in all of us.

Tonight, he told a story about a True Love Waits rally.  At the beginning of one speaker's time, the speaker tossed a rose into the audience and told everyone to pass it around and smell it.  Towards the end of his time, he asked for the rose to be brought forward.  There it was with one or two petals barely hanging on and a broken stem.  It was a mess.

"Who wants this broken, beat up rose?"

No one came forward.  

Aren't we all like that rose?  Passed around, used, broken, left hurting.  The thing is, Jesus says that he can take that rose and give it new life.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come!

-2 Corinthians 5:17

We spent a lot of time sharing about how we've had those moments where we were really messed up, but came to that realization that we have been rescued.  Jenny shared Psalm 40 with us.  I encourage you to check it out for yourselves!  It's really good!

Redeemed!

Restored!

Made new!

Joyful!

Loved!

Confident!

Healed!

Remembered!

Clean!

"Jesus deeply and desperately loves the broken rose with no petals left.  Jesus is better than everything.  Than life.  And there is something really freeing about that."

-Matt Chandler