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    “I’m sorry, but it’s broken.” The doctor’s words stun you even though you had anticipated the verdict.

    “Ugh,” you moan to yourself. You have a bit of an idea about what this broken bone means. You’ve helped others rehab their broken leg. “But in a few months, it will be better than ever. You’re healthy, your bones are healthy. In fact, where it’s broken will be the strongest part of your leg when it heals properly. You’ll be able to feel a little ridge where it’s healed up. You might even have a little advanced warning for a cold front. But your leg will be better than ever after you get your muscle tone back.”

    While it seems strange, when healthy bones heal from a break, they are strongest in the place where they were once broken. And it’s true in more areas than just broken bones. Or at least it can be.

    God has always found a way to redeem and use the weaknesses, vulnerabilities, and failures of people devoted to him. In fact, he turns these “deficits” into opportunities for his power to be displayed. Whether it’s being down to five loaves and two fish to feed a crowd, the moral failure of a King who repents when confronted (King David), or the greatest enemy of the Christian movement being converted (the Apostle Paul), God has a powerful way of turning deficits into plusses, failures into opportunities, and weakness into strength.

God has a powerful way of turning weakness into strength.

Now don’t get me wrong, we’re not talking about an excuse for failure or complacency about our weaknesses, vulnerabilities, and failures. But there is great comfort in knowing that God can use my past disasters to equip me and strengthen me so I can bless others. There are, however, three key ingredients for this kind of turn around.

    First, as believers we want to have healthy “bones.” We usually take away from disasters what we brought with us into them, only more so. HEALTHY bones are stronger where they’ve been broken and healed. DISEASED bones are often much weaker where they’ve been broken. Let’s commit to be “healthy” in the Lord so that when disasters, failures, or problems come, we can be healed and made stronger.

    Second, we must acknowledge our brokenness and bring it to God to be fully healed. Hiding what is broken, or trying to just let it heal itself, will usually only make what is broken heal improperly. If it’s sin, confess it. If it’s failure, admit it. If it is weakness, acknowledge it. Then ask the Great Physician for help and healing.

    Third, offer yourself back to God to be used by him in his work. Like the boy who brought the loaves and fishes, what we offer may not seem like enough to meet the demand. But when it is offered to the Father, he makes it more than sufficient. He takes what is broken and makes it strongest in the broken places.