Seashells: A journey on the beach but a lesson in God's grace!

We drove down to Florida last week with the kiddos.  We had had enough winter in Michigan and were ready for some fun in the sun.  One day we went to the beach.  It was glorious to see the ocean, waves, sand and sun.  AHHHHHHhh!! As my husband fished and my son was working on a big sand castle with some friends of ours, my daughter and I decided to grab a bucket and walk down the beach.  It was nice to have some girl time, just us.   We talked, walked and looked for treasures.  As we were walking I was kicking over shells to see if they were interesting enough to make it into our bucket.  Did they have blemishes?  Imperfection?  Were they broken?  Then they stayed on the beach. Were they pretty? Whole? Perfect? Unique? Then they were coming with us. As I did this I looked over and noticed my daughter passing over all of these "perfect" shells and picking up pieces of shells, shells with holes in them, shells with blemishes.  I was confused.  I inquired as to why she was picking up all of those shells, when we had plenty to choose from.  She exclaimed, "I love the broken ones!" 
  

It was at this moment I swear I could feel the Lord's presence.  Just like my daughter sifting through to find the broken shells that were so beautiful to her, so does God.  God calls the broken, the lonely, the poor, the imperfect, the blemished to Himself.  I could feel this lesson going on in my heart and I was mesmerized.  He uses our worst of times to rescue us and show us His love.  We all have things going on in this life that leave scars on us forever, inside and out.  But God doesn't judge us by this, He loves us anyway.  He can use our messes and our scars to bring others to him.  He sent the ultimate sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ to save us from all of our sins.   He doesn't see us as broken, shamed, bitter, angry, He sees us for the people He created us to be. He has a plan for all of us and sometimes that might include what we have gone through.  I know some of the roughest times I have been through have sometimes been blessed by others coming along and saying, "I have been there, keep going, you will get through this!"


Thank you Lord for this lesson that you love and call the broken to Yourself.  That you love us in spite of our broken spirits and bodies.  No matter how many times we screw up, You are there to forgive and love us anyway!