First Trip breakdown

Two weeks ago, our Forge class took our first trip which was amazing.  We left early Monday morning and drove for a long time.  During the car ride, all the Forgies shared our testimonies and had the opportunity to hear everyone else’s.  When I was giving mine, Matt, the director of the program, questioned me about one of the parts.  I stated that “God broke me” and he proceeded to question me about what that meant.  I had no idea, so over the course of the next twelve hours, I tried to flesh out if God breaks us, what that looks like and what that actually means.  After not being able to figure it out on my own, I prayed that God would give me discernment and understanding.  He began to reveal to me the gospel message.  I learned that first off, God doesn’t break us.  It is the sin in our lives that breaks us and separates us from the love/perfection of God.  Then, when we turn our lives over to Christ, he makes us a “new creation, behold the old has gone; the new has come.”  He picks up our broken pieces and puts us back together.  When we sin, the Holy Spirit inside us convicts us of the sin that is in our lives, which is why we feel pain when we sin.  However, one can also have a broken heart over the lost or over emotional pain.  As the Hillsong song states, “break my heart for what breaks yours.”  That is a different type of brokenness though.  Once I realized that, my whole view of myself and my life and the gospel of Jesus Christ changed.  I finally began to understand what Christ did on the cross for me.  The rest of the week, I heard the gospel preached by a lot of different people, each from their own story.  It is the common thread that weaves together all Christians from all walks of life!  That is the basis for Christian community and loving others!!  We should never allow the gospel to depart from our tongue, for it is in that time that we lose perspective of who we are and whose we are!!!