susan b steen

God is the master of using broken things. 
It’s a sentence from a sermon I read.  How many of you feel broken?
How many times do you feel like one thing after another is piling up on you,
until you are practically suffocating from the pressure?  As an adult,
I can say that I have felt that way with some frequency.  As a teen, you have
conveyed to me some of those same feelings.  Here’s your word from God’s Word:
2 Corinthians 4:8
We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed and broken.
We are perplexed, but we don’t give up and quit.
  We are hunted down, but God never abandons us.
        We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going.
There is hope!  When other people knock you down, when choices leave you
feeling broken, when seeing our friends changing leaves you perplexed, God is there.
He’s ready to use you in your knocked down, broken, and perplexed state.  Isn’t that wonderful?

My spirit told me to stop my friend who walked by the house while
I was pulling weeds yesterday.  I kept working.  I hope I have the chance
to learn from my mistake.  Thank you, God, that you not only made me
aware of a need, but you also have convicted me that I did not do what I ought.