9. ‘Gracefully Broken’ – Surrendering, For Freedom

‘Here I am, God
Arms wide open
Pouring out my life
Gracefully broken’

Song: Gracefully Broken by Tasha Cobbs Leonard

This is less of a blog post and more of a brief commentary of my thoughts…

The phrase ‘gracefully broken’ has been to the forefront of my mind a lot lately. I heard it first while driving and shuffling worship songs by Tasha Cobbs Leonard. The minute the song started I was drawn in by the lyrics. By how they acknowledged not just the raw reality of how broken life is, but the pure surrender of worship within that brokenness and on realising that with God, we are not just broken but we are GRACEFULLY broken.

How incredible is that?

Inevitably, in this life, we are broken, we are tried, we are tested, we are hurt, we are betrayed, we are bereaved, we are deceived, we experience sorrow, we experience despair, we experience loneliness, we experience anger, we experience desperation, we bear grudges, we experience disappointments. WE ARE BROKEN. I see it everywhere- in myself, in other people, in working in the hospital setting where patients and families are often going through their most vulnerable, challenging, and grief-filled times. Brokenness makes up a part of everyone, to varying degrees, through various seasons. It’s something we all have in common.

But what shines through and pours light into the brokenness, is that our ultimate Healer, and Comforter, POURS and POURS out His grace on us. He covers us with grace time and time again. It is His grace which takes our brokenness and weaves it into a thing of beauty; which weaves US into things of beauty. Often during the process, this isn’t so clear and the brokenness can threaten to envelop us. But His grace can overcome and draw us through to a place where we begin to recognise and see Him at work.

The beauty of brokenness is that it gives way to vulnerability.

The beauty of raw vulnerability is that when we take that vulnerability and give it to God, it is the ultimate sacrifice of surrendering all to Him. When we worship from a place of surrendering and raw vulnerability, we are fully giving of ourselves. When we are in that state of surrendering, we no longer hold ourselves back with the barrier of pride or self-sufficiency. When we surrender completely to Him, realising that we can’t do it alone, we enable Him to work extravagantly, to work fully, and to work within us to further His purpose for our lives. We give Him free reign to take control and turn the brokenness into the beauty He could see all along. We then in turn, feel ultimately free.

Surrendering, to be free.

‘When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord; He brought me into a spacious place’ Psalm 118: 5

Here are the beautiful lyrics to ‘Gracefully Broken’: