You're Not too Broken

Photo by Microsoft

Anyone else would have felt like half a man, but this guy--the one with no legs--was the one who knew beyond a doubt that he’d been called.

Called to a tribe--remote--godless--dying. Called to bring relief, aid, and a fresh word from a God who loved them enough to send the broken.

They said he couldn’t do it. Time and time again this man came before churches, missions boards, relief organizations. “NO. You would never survive. REJECTED.”

He listened at first. But when you feel like you’re called--you’re called. Eventually the amputee and his wife gathered enough resources to go... alone.

It took days for him to literally drag himself through the jungle.

“Hostile. Dangerous. Cannibalistic.”

The mission board hadn’t sent anyone there, much less a man who couldn’t defend himself.

Unlike Jonah, one of the greatest heroes of the Word, this man didn’t shrink back--even knowing the greeting he could receive.

When he dragged in, dehydrated, starving, exhausted... God showed up too. The people fell to their knees and wept.

“You’ve come. He’s come. The wounded one we knew would come has come!”

The tribesmen explained that years before in a vision they’d seen someone--without legs--who would bring them a message. They’d never known anyone to survive such a wound. What the man had to say was surely important.

God used the one thing that had caused every rejection in this man’s life as the hinge to open the door to save thousands.*

The missionary was truly a “wounded healer”.

I don’t know where you are in your life today. Perhaps you’re a wounded healer. And if everyone’s telling you no--you can’t be used; you’re too damaged, too broken, ________... just let those words sink in. They’re right. But they’re oh so wrong.

Because if you’re truly called, nothing on this earth will shake the deep-down in your core knowledge that God uses the despised, the weak, the undesired to shake His world up and turn it on its head. (1 Corinthians 1:27)

So when the time is right, and you’ve gathered all the strength and resources you can find--you will pick yourself up and drag yourself up through that jungle. And when you get to the other side, your pain will be the hinge that will open the door... to change the world.

*This story is a recounting from a missionary friend. I am currently researching it to uncover the details. Corrections welcome.

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Bekah Martin is a small girl living in a small town in North Carolina... who enjoys watching God do big things.