Broken and Imperfect, but Dearly Loved

I'm a good person. I have no issues. Life is a walk in the park.

What a mess we are, ever single one of us. In our modern society we work hard to cover up our issues and imperfections with happy pictures on social media and small talk, but the truth is ugly. If you haven’t already watched “The Push” on Netflix I recommend it! It’s a film about a social experiment that reveals that most people, under pressure, are capable of committing murder. Derren Brown picked four people for the experiment, two women and two men. Both women and one of the men committed murder at the end of the experiment. All these people are normal people, not mentally unstable, and still they chose murder. The Push is far from the only psychological experiment that has revealed that humans are far more self-centered than we might want to admit.

We are a mess, we are what the Bible calls sinners. We hate the word sin, but it’s quite clear that humans aren’t as sweet on the inside as they look on the outside. The people in the social experiment chose murder when they were faced with the realization that they might go to prison if they let the person live. We think we are “good people”, we are not.

Despite all this, regardless of our brokenness and ugliness, God willingly chose to give up everything to save us humans from ourselves. My mind struggles to understand how huge that is, that God willingly took on unbelievable amounts of pain to set my soul free from the bondage of sin. I can’t save myself from my issues, I can strive to be “a good person”, but the social experiment shows that I’m not. Humans are inherently selfish and if we are ever faced with the choice of saving our own skin or committing murder 3 out of 4 will choose murder. Still, God loves us, every single one of us. That's mind-blowing to me!

Imperfect, but dearly loved!

Today we had a “Testimony Day” at our Women Connect gathering at church and I was once again reminded of God’s limitless love. It’s incredible what God will do to reach us, even when we are running in the other direction. Sharon was one of the women who shared her story at Women's Connect today. Sharon has been a believer since she was a small child, but most of her life she hasn’t spent much time focusing on God. She got caught up in chasing wealth, possessions, career success and independence over the years.


One day Sharon suffered a stroke and a brain aneurysm and ended up in the hospital. She had an out of body experience while she was in the ambulance and found herself walking in the yard of her big house in Toronto. She could hear a voice that said: “You have spent all your money and focus on this, and you spend no time with me.” She didn’t understand what was going on until later, and after months of recovery and rehabilitation she knew everything had to change in her life. The doctors say that she should be either dead or severely disabled at this point because of the severity of her brain aneurysm, but she is walking and doing well.

Sharon has big scars on her body from the surgery and for a long time she has been covering them up with a scarf. One day God spoke to her during her prayer time and told her not to hide her scars any longer. God told her to share her testimony and tell others that although she should be dead today God decided to make death pass over her, just like it passed over the Israelites’ homes in Egypt. Today Sharon is living every day to the fullest, not worrying about the future at all and making sure she’s spending time with God. She’s not letting herself get distracted by the alluring things of this world any longer.

Sharon isn’t the only person I’ve met who have had miraculous healing take place in her life. Two of my friends at Women Connect have experienced miraculous healing in their own bodies. It’s one thing to hear about God’s mighty works or read about them in the Bible, it’s different to meet a friend who tells you their story. God cares for us, nobody will ever love you like God loves you, but do you love him? The Bible makes it clear that all God asks of us is for us to love Him back and then go out into the world and love other people.

Messy, weak and imperfect but forgiven, free and fearless in Christ.

How many of us can honestly say that we really love God? You can’t love somebody that you don’t know personally. I don’t love Beyonce, because I have never met her. I love my husband because every day I spend time with him. Every day God loves you, protects you, cares for you and provides for you. Do you even notice that in your life? Do you even care about Him at all? 


I don’t know about you, but I tend to get easily distracted from the things of God and choose to be self-absorbed. One of my New Year’s resolutions this year is to spend more time with God. When Lent started a couple of weeks ago I chose to fast from sleep. I decided that I will get up one hour earlier every day to spend that hour with God. The first week was very unsuccessful. I would get up, turn off my alarm, and crawl back into bed. The second week I finally got a good routine going.

I get up at 5AM every morning to spend one hour with God. I read 1-2 chapters in the Bible, I sing 1-2 worship songs to God, and I pray for myself and others. I ask God to protect, guide and provide for all my friends and family members and I ask Him to help them with whatever they are struggling with. If someone’s sick I pray for healing. At this point my time with God has become my favorite hour of the day. My time with God leaves me joyful, at peace and full of hope every morning. But I’m aware that once Lent is over it will be very easy for me to slip back into old habits and not prioritize putting God first any longer.

Everything that is beautiful, good, lovely and admirable in my life comes from the same source; God. How can I justify not letting God have the first hour of my day when He gave up everything for me? I will work hard to keep my Morning Quiet Time habit after Lent is over and other people’s testimonies encourage me to keep God first. At the end of this life I will not wish that I had spent more time on shopping, Netflix, or at the gym. What will matter at the end is this: How much I loved God and how well I loved other people.

Peace. Hope. Joy. Purpose.

We all come into this world naked and we all leave it naked. Our beauty, career titles, popularity, social status or prestige is temporary and will not impress God. What matters is if we love God or not, and if we loved the people God put in front of us. How are you doing in these two areas? I personally have a lot of room for improvement in both areas, but every new habit makes an important difference.