Today I was asked a question that I wasn't quite sure how to answer. Luckily, I was with a couple of great friends. One of them quickly replied, "Don't ask. We don't want to have to carry her out of here!" The other friend said something like, "Let's not talk about that." My reply was simply, "I was broken!" My friends and I finished our business and left. I went about the day without giving it another thought.....
A few days ago my sister, Kate, invited me to her Christmas Enrichment. Brad Wilcox and Steven Kapp Perry were going to do the Program. (For those of you that grew up with me.....THAT'S RIGHT!) When I was growing up, these guys spoke at quite a few firesides and youth conferences. I can still remember songs that they sang and words that they spoke. I was so excited to get to hear them again. Somewhere,I have a picture exactly like the one posted above that was taken more than two decades ago. Appropriately, the theme of the night was the Atonement. Steven and his wife, Joanne started by singing a song called "Broken." One of the lines was, "I believe that God loves broken things." Suddenly, I was back in that little shop saying,"I was broken!" I forgot! I have tried what I thought was EVERYTHING to claw my way out of being broken. I forgot that I wasn't alone. A year and a half later, a voice that touched me 25 years ago, reminded me of a truth that I have known for years! I just needed to hear it from a familiar voice!
Brad then got up and in his fun, yet touching way, expressed that Christmas IS about getting. It is all about a gift that was given to us long ago. A gift that sometimes even in a season where reminders are all around me, I forget that it was given to me.
